


An interesting journey on Metru Nui

by Kokua_Aviatrix



Category: Bionicle - All Media Types
Genre: A vahki, And one mad dog, Assorted matoran - Freeform, Gen, various rahi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-05-16 14:06:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14812817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kokua_Aviatrix/pseuds/Kokua_Aviatrix
Summary: Sherrie's adventure continues





	1. Chapter 1

It had been several months since their adventure on Mata Nui and having tired Wotzit out chasing his ball, Sherrie was just putting the last touches to the backstitch on a cross-stitch of Aikane, while he snored flat out on his beanbag.  
Suddenly her hand felt as though it had been plunged into a bucket of ice, and she yelped with surprise, startling Wotzit whom looked over at her before going back to sleep.  
Peering at her hand, Sherrie blinked in surprise as the symbol on her palm had turned from slightly darker than her skin tone to a strange silvery colour. Rubbing her hand until the sensation passed she then peered at the colour that remained. While looking at it and wondering what it could mean, a strange lethargy came over her and she relaxed into the chair, unable to keep her eyes from closing.

...

Slowly, Sherrie became aware of a familiar voice saying, "...that she'll wake soon, how's Wotzit doing?"  
"Macku, Jaller and Hewkii are keeping him amused Turaga." came the reply, as Sherrie opened her eyes to see Turaga Nokama and Hahli watching her and that she was currently lent against the side of a canoe.  
"Turaga, Hahli, how did we get here?" she asked with surprise, "You and Wotzit were lying here sleeping when we landed." Nokama replied. Hahli piped up as she offered the human a water canister, "That image of Toa Aikane is very realistic."  
"Thanks, I had fun stitching it." the human grinned before glancing around as she realised that it was no longer on her lap, _"It's alright sister, I've got it."_ Aikane's 'voice' reached Sherrie as she stood up and looked around, to her amazement she realised that they weren't on Mata Nui, but she had awoken on the island of Metru Nui.

Nokama and Sherrie walked over to the Toa and the rest of the Turaga while Hahli went to help her friends keep Wotzit occupied, "Just where on Metru Nui are we Nokama?" she asked, "We landed at Ta-metru and were quite surprised to see you both here." came the blue hued Turaga's reply as she chuckled at the dog's antics.  
When they reached the Toa, Aikane passed the cross stitch to Kopaka, then turned and caught her human sister up in a bear hug as the others gathered round to greet her, "We were starting to think you would sleep the day away." Takanuva said smiling, as Aikane put Sherrie down. "What brought you here this time?" Vakama asked curiously, "This I think." the human replied, showing everyone her hand, the symbol shimmering slightly in the sunlight.

As Sherrie moved her hand round, the symbol suddenly brightened then dimmed. Startled she moved her hand back to where the glow was brightest and felt a slight tug in that direction, "Erm, Turaga, what is over there?"  
"The Great Temple, are you feeling alright?" she replied, watching the human closely, "I feel like I'm being.....er called to it." she said looking perplexed. Gali looked closely at Sherrie's hand, "When did the symbol appear?" she enquired, "When I returned to my world, only then it wasn't silver." Sherrie replied, adding, "That happened just before we were brought back here.

While the Turaga started to discuss the quickest and easiest way to the Great Temple, Sherrie looked to see what Wotzit was doing, and smiled when she found that he was curled up against Hahli having a nap. Then Kopaka came over and handed back the cross-stitch, "Nice work." he said with a smile, "Thank you." she replied with a grin. Then she looked over at Aikane "Could you take care of it as I haven't anywhere to keep it safe?" she asked, "I'd love to." the violet hued Toa replied, accepting the cross-stitch as Sherrie offered it to her and placed it with her quarter-staff.

Tahu came over from where the Turaga had been quietly talking, "Vakama thinks the best way to the Great Temple is to paddle closer and then walk the rest of the way." He told us.  
So as the Turaga rejoined us, they headed back towards the canoes and Onua explained to their human friend that as they were all going to be coming to Metru Nui the Toa and Turaga thought it might be a good idea to have a look round and make sure there were no nasty surprises lurking around before the matoran came back. After getting the canoes back into the water and a little shuffling around they got settled, Wotzit was fascinated and kept looking over the side, so Sherrie kept a firm hold of him just in case he wanted to go for a swim.  
As the canoes moved round Ta-metru the Great Temple came into view, "Whoa!" gasped Aikane, Lewa, Hahli and Sherrie, as it looked stunning, even with all the damage it had sustained.

...

Landing the canoes on a beach in Ga-metru, everyone paused to let Nokama have a little time to herself as it had been a while since she last walked there. Then they began to make their way up to the metru. Though there was damage to the buildings it was still a beautiful place and they paused to look at what was left of a fountain.  
As the group walked towards the causeway that led to the Great Temple, Sherrie heard Nuju whistle something to Matoro who then moved to walk beside the human then translated, "Turaga Nuju's wondering what’s happened to your hair?"  
"I was going somewhere and changed the colour for fun." she replied with a grin, Nuju nodded and added something else which Matoro translated with a chuckle, "It's certainly different and Nuju says with it that colour it's easy to see you're Aikane's sister."

A puzzled frown crossed Sherrie's face and she glanced around for a reflective surface to look at her hair and smiled when Kopaka found a shiny piece of metal, before exclaiming with delight that it wasn't blue any more, it was a vibrant purple.  
Setting the metal down where it wouldn't be in anyone's way, Sherrie wondered if it had been this colour when her friends found her and Wotzit,  
Aikane smiled as she said something to Gali and they paused to let Nuju, Matoro and their human sister catch up, while the others carried on.  
_"Yes it was."_ Aikane silently said as we all resumed walking, _"Oh wow,"_ she replied, still grinning broadly, "Neat!" before laughing as the violet hued Toa ruffled her short, spiky hair.  
Skirting round the damaged areas the group reached the entrance of the Temple; the pull on my hand was feeling stronger. They entered with the Turaga leading the way and they headed down the stairs to where the Toa Suva was, as the group approached it they were stunned to see it had been partially damaged by a fallen pillar, yet as he looked closer, Turaga Whenua exclaimed "Someone has tried to repair it."

While they stood there, examining the partially repaired Suva, a noise suddenly came from behind where Gali, Takanuva and Turaga Matau stood. Spinning around, the Toa pulled out their weapons then Tahu said, "Come out and let us see you." There was no reply then the noise came again and a Vahki moved into view, it had no weapons that we could see and was brass/black in colour. It moved towards them, then Tahu said, "That's far enough." it paused, came forwards a few more steps then stopped.  
Matau glanced curiously at Vakama "Is it me or is that one not so tall-big?"

As they started talking about it while the Toa listened, keeping a cautious eye on the Vahki, Sherrie got the feeling that she should go and show it her symbol marked hand. The compulsion was so strong that she'd walked over to the Vahki before anyone noticed. When she reached it she realised that it was roughly the same height as her, around 5 feet tall.

"Sherrie, what in Mata Nui's name are you doing?" yelled Onua, who had just noticed where she'd gone.

Holding out her hand to show the symbol to the Vahki, Sherrie watched as it looked at it then back at her, and then to everyone’s surprise nodded, and held its own hand out.  
As their hands met, the symbol blazed so brightly that she was temporarily blinded and would have lost her balance had the Vahki not caught her elbow and steadied her.  
When the light faded, the Vahki supported the human until her vision had cleared again. To everyone’s amazement the Vahki had changed colour and was now light gold/violet. It now looked less mechanical and more like a living creature, it looked at itself and everyone heard it say, "Thank you," then he looked over to the equally stunned Toa and Turaga "It's been a long time, hasn't it Vakama?"

"What!?" the others exclaimed as Vakama walked over to where the Vahki and Sherrie stood, "What do you mean?" he asked, looking puzzled.  
"I first saw you when you and those who became Toa Metru first met at the Toa Suva." the Vahki replied. "But we didn't see you when we were here." said Nokama as the rest of the Turaga came over followed by the Toa.  
"You weren't meant to, as you had Toa Stones I knew you were supposed to be here."  
"Why didn't you let us see you?" Onewa asked intrigued, drawing agreement from the other Turaga.

"When I was made, Turaga Dume told me that I had two duties, one to watch over the prophecies under the Temple and the second to stay hidden and only show myself to true Turaga. As a time would come when the prophecies would have to be protected and if anyone else knew about me the prophecies could be endangered."  
He then sighed, "I found out what Turaga Dume meant about true Turaga, as one who looked and sounded like him came here once, but when I went to greet him I found I was frozen in place which is what happened if I tried to show myself to anyone but the true Turaga Dume." "So how are you able to move-talk now?" asked Matau.  
The Vahki leaned his head to one side thinking then said, "There are true Turaga in the temple again," he paused then continued, "And there might be something about what's happened in the prophecies.”

"Will we be able to see these prophecies?" asked Whenua with interest as the Vahki began leading us towards the wall of the Temple, "Yes Turaga." he replied. "I've been wondering why you weren't affected when Makuta drained the power from the city." said Nuju via Matoro, "I was fortunate enough to be down beneath the Temple checking the prophecies, as there had been a strong tremor not long before and as there is no power supply down there, there was nothing for him to drain." The Vahki looked very relived as he said that.

While they talked, Sherrie glanced up at the stairs where Hahli and the others had been watching while keeping Wotzit calm, he had now settled down, rested his head over the edge and was watching them with great interest.  
The rays of the setting sun were showing through some of the windows dotted around the Temple, the Vahki looked up at the angle of the rays, "Night will fall soon, would you like to wait until tomorrow as the prophecies are best seen by daylight?" he asked, looking at Whenua, "They have been safe for over a thousand years, we can wait a few more hours." Whenua replied with a smile.

Wotzit came racing down the stairs followed by Hahli and friends and immediately bounced over to check out the Vahki who looked surprised. "I've never seen a rahi like him before and any I saw after Makuta trashed Metru Nui were more interested in avoiding the Vahki squads and the Visorak." he said as Wotzit jumped up and wrapped his paws over the Vahki’s arm to let him rub his chest.  
"Well Wotzit's always been very friendly," Sherrie explained then giggled, "I've even seen him try to make friends with a tiger."  
"A what?" enquired Matau intrigued, "It's similar to a Muaka." she replied, Matau looked at Wotzit, who's still getting his chest rubbed.  
"Just when you think-guess he can't get any more strange-odd...." Matau started to say then began chuckling, it didn't take long before everyone joined in. Then the Vahki showed the matoran where some undamaged supplies were stored and everyone settled down and carried on talking. The Vahki was starting to explain why the Visorak hadn't done any lasting damage to the Temple when Sherrie drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Sherrie woke to Wotzit nudging her and whining, "Get off kipper features." she muttered rubbing her eyes, before looking around to see what her friends were doing.

The Toa, Nokama, Whenua, Matau and the Vahki were still asleep, while Vakama, Nuju, Onewa and the matoran were quietly talking, Macku glanced up "Morning." she said then nudged Hahli who stopped writing, looked up and grinned as Sherrie came to sit beside her, "Morning everyone." the human yawned and grinned.

Daylight was just starting to break so she asked Vakama if it would be alright to take Wotzit out, "Yes," he nodded "Jaller and Hewkii can go with you."

As they headed up the stairs, Wotzit barked happily before racing ahead. The sky was clear, the stars still visible and there was a slight cool breeze blowing. While Wotzit ran off his energy, Hewkii, Jaller and Sherrie watched the stars slowly growing dim when their attention was caught by one star shimmering close to the horizon.

It shone brighter than normal for a star so close to where the sun was going to come up and had a violet tint to it.

Then as they watched it gave a flash and vanished below the horizon, "That was strange, I've not seen any star do that before," Hewkii said still looking curiously at the horizon "Have you or Sherrie? " he asked us, "No I've never seen a star act like that before." Jaller replied as the human added "Me neither, I think we should get Wotzit then tell the Turaga."

That ended up being easier said than done as Wotzit led them on a merry chase around part of Ga-metru, then back towards the Temple. He then raced inside closely followed by Jaller as Hewkii stopped beside Sherrie while they both got their breath back.

"Ye gods, that dog of mine's a little maniac!" Sherrie wheezed, "Are you alright?" Hewkii asked looking worried. "Yes thanks, it'll pass." she replied with a small grin as Pohatu came out and over to them. "We're nearly ready to go and look at the prophecies, Turaga Vakama had a vision and says that you should come too Sherrie." he said as he stopped beside them, "What's that crazy dog of mine doing?" she asked as they headed back to the Temple.

Pohatu laughed, "He came tearing back in then flopped down panting like mad and Jaller's also getting his breath back." While they headed down the stairs to join up with the others, Nokama was chatting with Hahli and Macku then they went and sat beside Jaller and Wotzit.

"Hewkii," said Onewa, "We would like you and the other matoran to keep Wotzit here, as after his entrance this morning, the Vahki thinks it may not be a good idea for him to come."

"Yes Turaga," he said, "See you later Sherrie." Hewkii added as he went to join his friends. "Don't let him drive you too crazy, if he gets too daft then ignore him, he'll get the hint then." she called to Hewkii, who glanced round and nodded.

Pohatu and Sherrie followed Onewa over to the rest of the Turaga, Toa and the Vahki, then everyone followed him as he led them towards what looked like a wall until he slid part of it over to show some stairs leading down under the Temple.

It would have been awkward but who ever built the Temple had cleverly put slits into the walls that caught and refracted the light. At the first open area they came to, the Vahki explained, "This is where I stayed when not checking on the prophecies or having a peek upstairs, they are down that passage way and past the centre of the Temple."

While the Toa, Turaga and human followed the Vahki through the narrow passage, Lewa behind Sherrie was muttering that he didn't go much on enclosed spaces and the Vahki replying there wasn't far to go. They were passing a carving of the Great Spirit when there was a sudden flash of light and when they could see again, _Gali, Aikane and Sherrie found themselves in an area of intense light._

After the flash had faded Tahu was the first to realise that they were missing, turning to the Vahki he growled, "Where are our sisters?" as he backed the Vahki against the wall. "I don't know that's never happened before." he replied looking worried, "Wait Tahu," said Vakama as he moved between them, "Their disappearance happened for a reason," he paused then smiled, adding, "They will return."

_Looking around at where we were, Aikane gasped, "I know this place, this is where I first woke up!" she sat down suddenly looking rather shocked. Gali and Sherrie glanced worriedly at each other, then the human knelt beside Aikane and hugged her, "Don't worry sister, we're with you."_

_T_ _hey became aware of a soft ringing sound like small bells chiming softly growing louder, Aikane then stood up and moved forwards a few paces, Gali and Sherrie looked at each other then moved to stand either side of Aikane, glancing up at her, the human realised she was unaware of them._

_Then they also felt the gentle but persistent compulsion to look forwards, as a sense of peace surrounded them. As a strong, calm and gentle voice spoke, "Welcome daughter." and some of the light changed colour as a pair of intensely blue eyes appeared._

_The eyes looked at them, then the voice spoke again "Gali, your love and empathy will always keep the Toa united._

_Sherrie, your sense of duty to others shows you have the heart of a Toa; it will always guide you to the right path._

_Aikane, do not worry, you are finding your destiny, keep walking the path you're on, my Daughter."_

_Then the light grew even brighter and seemed to wrap itself around them, then they heard the Great Spirit whisper, "Join your right hands together." As they did they formed a triangle and the light grew to a blinding intensity_ then vanished as they found themselves back with the others at the end of the passage.

"Sisters are you alright?" asked Lewa as they gathered round them, "What happened?" asked Tahu who was still glaring at the Vahki; he looked very relived that they'd returned. Gali, Aikane and Sherrie looked at each other, _"Sisters, how are we going to explain?"_ the human heard Gali ask, _"I'm not sure, how do I tell our friends and brothers that I've met my father?"_ Aikane replied, blinking in surprise as Sherrie added, _"I can hear both of you, more clearly than ever"_ they looked at her amazed as she continued, " _Why don't we tell them some of what he said?"_

There was a moments pause then Gali turned towards the others, "We... we were called by the Great Spirit." then she paused and glanced at Aikane when she added, "He has strengthened my sisters telepathic ability." and then she told them part of what he had said to each of them. When she got to the bit he'd said to Sherrie, the human started blushing again.

Aikane looked at her human sister and grinned, "I knew you could turn pink, but didn't know you could turn red too!" Sherrie looked at her then dissolved into fits of giggles "Not very often thankfully!" she replied when everyone's laughter eased.

Moving back towards the centre of the underside of the Temple, Nokama came and walked beside Sherrie, "Did anything else happen when you were called?" she quietly asked, Sherrie thought for a few moments then smiled and replied, "If anything did I'm not able to remember yet." Aikane and Gali were being asked the same thing by Matau and Whenua and their answers were similar to the human's.

The centre of the underside of the Temple made us pause for a good look, the walls were covered in carvings of Toa, Hagah, Metru, Hordika, Mata, Nuva and others, Aikane and Takanuva were also there, Nokama shuddered as she looked at the Hordika carvings. "That brings back unpleasant memories." she muttered, quickly moving to look at the rest of the carvings, the rest of the Turaga had given those carvings barely a glance before moving to look at the other Toa carvings.

"Who did these carvings?" mused Onewa while he closely examined the Toa Mata one of Pohatu, as the Vahki wandered over to him, "I've no idea, Turaga Dume once said that they had been here since the Temple was built."

Vakama was gazing at the carving of Toa Lhikan when Sherrie walked over to him, they stood there awhile then he looked at her and smiled saying "We'd better rejoin the others."

Turning to join them, Sherrie paused and then looked towards the doorway that led to where the prophecies were, _"Sherrie what is it?"_ Aikane enquired as she turned from the discussion she was having with Lewa to look over at her sister.

If she said anything else Sherrie never heard her as she stood there, then she closed her eyes as if to blink and heard the Great Spirit whisper, _"Relax."_

Aikane and Lewa were talking about the carvings of the Toa Metru "They look almost like..." Aikane started to say then suddenly turned to watch Sherrie as she stood looking towards the doorway. "Shadow-sis, what's up with Sherrie?" Lewa said peering over her shoulder "I'm not sure." she replied, as the human turned around, by now everyone was watching her.

When Sherrie’s eyes opened a gasp of surprise echoed round the chamber, as they were now intense blue and the voice that Gali, Aikane and she heard earlier spoke through her, _"Only the Turaga may read what's written."_

There was a stunned silence then Sherrie blinked and looked around bewildered. "What just happened?" she asked puzzled, Vakama took her right hand and turned it palm up; the light from the symbol was bright enough to shine onto the ceiling. "Mata Nui." he said as he led the dazed human over to Aikane and Lewa as she suddenly felt extremely dizzy and stumbled,

"Whoa, easy Sherrie!" Takanuva said catching her before she could fall and he glanced at Vakama, "We'll keep an eye on her." Vakama smiled, nodded and joined the rest of the Turaga who were now standing by the doorway with the Vahki.

"Take care." Tahu said as they walked through into where the prophecies were. Takanuva helped Sherrie to sit against the wall, as Aikane and Gali came over, then Gali sat beside her and put her arm around her shoulders. "You ok?" she asked giving Sherrie a hug, "Yes thank you, I'm just dizzy it'll pass." came her quiet reply.

As they sat there the human realised that was the second time the Great Spirit had spoken through her and wondered why.

After making sure Sherrie would be alright, the rest of the Toa went back to examining the carvings. Gali stayed beside her and they watched the sunlight moving across the walls, after sometime had passed she said, "Gali I'm getting stiff, I'm gonna have to move."

"Alright." she said with a smile as she climbed to her feet and then gave Sherrie a hand up, the dizzy spell had passed so they went over to have a look at the carvings. Aikane and Pohatu looked round as they stopped beside them, "Feeling better?" Pohatu asked as Sherrie glanced up at him and Aikane, "Yes thank you." she smiled then looked around to see what the others were doing.

Tahu, Onua and Kopaka were over by the carvings of the other Toa having a healthy debate about the ones they couldn’t recognise and Takanuva was watching Lewa who was walking on his hands, as he flipped back onto his feet Lewa said "Now you attempt-try it brother, it's fun."

Aikane noticed where the human was looking, "He's been trying to teach Takanuva handstands for the past two weeks." she giggled, as Takanuva succeeded in standing on his hands, then as they watched he managed to go forwards a few steps before losing his balance.

"Getting better." Pohatu grinned as he helped Takanuva up, they then headed over to where Tahu and the others were, they were still deep in conversation about the carvings so they sat nearby and waited for them to finish.

While they waited, Gali and Lewa looked over to the door as the light was starting to fade, then the others and Sherrie also looked over as they could hear the Turaga quietly talking.

As they came back into the centre of the Temple Sherrie noticed the Vahki was looking a little stunned and bewildered, _"Aikane, Gali do you think he's alright?"_ They glanced at the Vahki then at their sister, _"Maybe he was right about there being something in the prophecies."_ Gali thought as Aikane added, _"You could be right sis."_

Tahu walked over to the Turaga who looked exhausted, Vakama though nearly asleep on his feet said, "Let us rejoin the matoran and Wotzit as we will need sometime to discuss what we have read." Tahu nodded and followed them back towards the passage that led back to the Temple, and the rest tagged along behind. The walk back was quiet and when they passed the carving of the Great Spirit there was a lull in the conversation that was going on.

When they started up the stairway the group couldn't hear anything from above "It's very still-quiet." commented Lewa "Do you think Wotzit has tired himself out again?" Pohatu asked Sherrie, "It's possible or he's done something really daft," she replied then added, "I do hope it's not the latter!"

The Vahki pushed the panel over to let everyone out and they found that while they'd been away Hahli and the others had done a little more tidying up of the rubble around the Temple.

Wotzit was sparked out by a very small and carefully watched fire, Hewkii was sitting beside Wotzit and when he saw us coming over stood up and said, "Jaller took Hahli and Macku outside to see if they can spot that strange star." Tahu said, "Aikane, Kopaka could you see how they're doing?" they nodded and started towards the stairs. "Wait for me sister, I'd like to see if I can see it again." Sherrie called after she’d helped Vakama settle by the fire, and then hurried to catch up.

Reaching the entrance they could see Jaller, Hahli and Macku gazing up at the sky which was getting darker by the minute, then Jaller pointed, "Look there it is and it seems brighter." They moved to join them and Sherrie noticed that it was definitely brighter than when she'd first spotted it.

"That's odd." she murmured, "Most strange." Kopaka agreed, they watched for several minutes then glanced around on hearing one of the others approaching and were surprised to see that it was the Vahki joining them. He was looking around with great interest "I've never been outside before," he commented when he reached them, "It's amazing!"

They watched the stars for a while longer then went back inside to find all the Turaga were fast asleep and the fire had sunk to glowing embers. On rejoining Tahu and the others Kopaka told him about the star, Tahu nodded, "We'll find out what Vakama thinks in the morning."

As the light from the fire faded everyone settled, though it had been one of the strangest days of her life Sherrie just couldn't get to sleep. So when the others had finally fallen asleep, she carefully made her way back to the Temple entrance and sat there watching the stars wheeling through the sky.

After a while she fell into a light doze, which deepened, to a very odd dream. _She was with the others in Po-metru and they were looking for something or someone._ Sherrie woke suddenly feeling a little cold so moved back inside a bit, but not so far that the stars were hidden from view, then she drifted off to sleep again.

~*~

Sherrie roused slightly as she felt someone lifting her up and dimly heard someone else saying, "That's a deep-sleep!"

"You're not kidding." came the reply as she drifted back into dreamless sleep. When Sherrie finally woke the morning was half over and Lewa was looking at what was left of a statue, then he glanced round and smiled when he saw she was awake. "Come on sleepy one, we have to quick-speed to meet the others."

Sherrie stood up and they headed up the stairs, "Hmm, there aren't any gukko to wind-fly," Lewa mused as we left the Temple. Then he grinned, crouched down and said, "Put your arms round my neck and grip-hold tight." Once Sherrie had done so, he pulled out his Air-katana, ran towards the edge of the causeway and jumped over before catching the breeze and swinging round towards the centre of Metru Nui.

It's possible that the human's yell of shock/surprise was heard the other side of the city as they soared over the partially ruined buildings of Ga-metru, then Lewa spotted the others and he landed just ahead of them. As the lanky green Toa put Sherrie down he chuckled while they waited for them, "That's the biggest loud-shout I've ever heard."

"Sorry," she giggled helplessly, "It's because I was surprised, that was an awesome flight!"


	3. Chapter 3

Hahli was half awake when she became aware of an odd sniffing noise by her mask and opened her eyes to be greeted by a close up of Wotzit's nose. "Aaaahhhhhhhhh!" she yelped as Wotzit jumped back, then sat down wagging his tail madly. "Whazzzit." Onua said sitting up quickly still half asleep, "Sorry Toa, Wotzit was saying good morning." Hahli replied a little embarrassed, as the others started to wake up. "Oh right." Onua smiled stretching, everyone was gathering round where the fire had been when the Vahki frowned as he looked around, "Where's Sherrie?" he asked. Aikane closed her eyes and silently called out, _"Sister can you hear me?"_  

"I can sense that she's nearby. I'm guessing she's still asleep seeing as I'm not getting a reply." she said. "Kopaka can you see where she is?" Takanuva asked, Kopaka nodded and everyone watched as he methodically swept every inch of the Temple with his Akaku, then smiled, "Sherrie's up by the entrance, and she is indeed asleep." "Lewa, can you and Onua go and see if she's alright." said Tahu, they nodded and headed quickly up the stairs to find the human curled up just inside the doorway. "Wake up Sherrie." Onua said gently shaking her shoulder, but got no response "That's a deep-sleep." commented Lewa as Onua picked her up and they headed back downstairs. "You're not kidding." Onua replied as they reached the others and Wotzit who were starting their way up the stairs, everyone met halfway and Gali carefully checked the human over. "Looks like Sherrie's totally exhausted, best to let her sleep it off." she said.

"I'll wait-stay until she wakes then we can wind-fly and catch up quick-speed." Lewa said holding his arms out, Onua handed Sherrie to him and he carried me back to where the others had rested. Approaching the entrance the Vahki looked a bit worried "Are you sure that it's alright that I'm now able to leave the Temple," he asked Vakama "What about the prophecies?" Vakama smiled "Yes it's alright, when we," he gestured to the rest of the Turaga, "were memorising them yesterday. I had a vision that showed you with us on the way to Po-metru." The Vahki still looked a little concerned but nodded, "I'm still getting used to being able to move around freely." he admitted as they started walking over the causeway. Takanuva who'd moved over to walk beside him said "Don't worry, you'll get used to it." then Wotzit who had been sitting by the doorway, waiting for his owner, came charging up and started to jump around the matoran and Aikane, "Guess he thinks he's missing something." Tahu chuckled.

…

As they were walking through some broken carvings Aikane suddenly glanced back towards the Temple then laughed, "Sherrie's awake and they're on their way." as the echo of "WHOAAAA!" reached everyone. Then a speck came into view and steadily grew larger until Lewa and Sherrie could be seen clearly, when they landed just ahead of them as they walked over to join them, they heard the human giggle and say, "That was an awesome flight!"

While they carried on walking through Ga-metru, Onewa explained what they were doing "We are seeing if the nearest causeway that joins with Po-metru is intact." he was about continue when Sherrie asked, "Who or what are we going to be searching for?" Everyone looked surprised after she'd said that, "How did you know?" Nokama asked looking puzzled, so the human explained what had happened after she'd finally fallen asleep. Whenua glanced over at Vakama, "Visions in your sleep, that ever happen to you?" he asked curious, Vakama shook his head, "No, never." he replied as they moved carefully around a badly leaning building. Vakama then chuckled, "It was bad enough when the visions first started!" Just then Wotzit came over to get his ears rubbed as they heard Hewkii call back to them, "I think I can see the causeway."

They hurried over to where he and the others were waiting and followed them round the edge of one of the wrecked schools, ahead of them, roughly a quarter of a mile, they could see a park like area leading up to the edge of the causeway. As the group walked towards it Tahu asked Lewa if he would scout ahead and see how stable the causeway was. Lewa nodded and was just about to fly off when he looked over at Sherrie, "Fancy another spirit-lift?" he said with a very large grin, "Thanks, but I think I'll ground-walk!" came her laughing reply. The Toa of Air then headed off to check the causeway and they headed for the park like area.

The area was littered with remains of broken statues, half demolished walls and fountains; they walked over to the remains of a low wall and carefully sat down to wait. The Turaga were telling the Toa, matoran, Vahki and Sherrie about Po-metru, the human kept Wotzit amused by pretending she was boxing his ears. Then she noticed that Nokama had moved away from the rest of the Turaga and was looking sorrowfully at some of the carving on one of the walls. She then glanced over at the Toa. _"Gali, could you ask Hahli and the others if they can keep Wotzit happy? I'm going to see if Nokama needs some silent company."_ she asked.

The blue hued Toa glanced around and then tapped Macku on the shoulder and said something to her. Then Hahli and Macku came over to Wotzit and Sherrie, he was delighted and quickly settled down to get his tummy rubbed. "Thanks Hahli, Macku," Sherrie said then grinned, "Give him a chance and you'll still be doing that when the sun sets!" As she walked towards Nokama she could hear Pohatu asking something about the Kikanalo.

On reaching Nokama, Sherrie reached out to gently squeeze her hand. Then after a few minutes she felt her return the squeeze and sigh as she returned from where her memories had taken her. Then they instinctively ducked as Lewa swooped overhead before landing by the others, "Shall we go and find out what Lewa saw or do you want to stay here for a little while longer?" the human asked Nokama. "Let's find out," she said then smiled, "And thank you for coming over." Heading back to the others, Gali glanced over to them and nodded as they reached them, Lewa was waiting for them so that they could all find out what he'd seen. Sitting on the wall everyone listened as Lewa told them that quite a bit of the causeway was relatively undamaged, but several areas had holes in them and one part had completely broken away leaving a fairly large gap between both sides of the causeway.

"Hmm, with our Miru Nuva we should be able to take everybody across that without too much trouble." Tahu said, "True, but I've never got the hang of levitation," commented Pohatu, "and the thought of flying over protodermis would really put me off." he then perked up when Aikane suggested, "If we get to the gap as the sun's setting then I might be able to solidify the shadow for us to walk across."

"Can you do that?" asked Takanuva intrigued, "It's possible," Aikane replied, "But it depends on which way the shadow falls." "Erm," said the Vahki "we won't really know which is the easier way until we reach the gap, will we?" he looked a bit embarrassed until Kopaka nodded, "True, shall we get started?" he asked, everyone agreed so the group started towards the causeway. Nokama and Sherrie were walking with the matoran and Wotzit was following closely as they began the crossing to Po-metru, "Will he be safe?" Nokama asked as Wotzit had moved past them and was looking through one of the smaller holes in the causeway. "He should be even if it doesn't look that way." she replied, watching her pet closely, Wotzit glanced up, and saw them watching him.

He then moved round the hole and started to have a sniff at some rubble before bouncing over to see what the others were doing. It was roughly mid-afternoon when the group got their first glimpse of the break in the causeway and as they reached the edge of it, Sherrie and the matoran made sure that Wotzit was nowhere near it. Takanuva, Aikane, Lewa and Kopaka went to check the distance while the rest waited. They came back fairly soon, "We will have to use our Miru Nuva." said Kopaka as Aikane looked over to Pohatu, "There weren't any shadows to make solid." she explained.

"Don't worry brother, I won't let you fall." Gali said as Pohatu looked over towards Po-metru. The Toa first took the matoran across, then the Turaga and Vahki and finally Gali and Tahu helped Aikane across while Lewa insisted on carrying the human over the gap. Nuju had to use his Matatu for lifting Wotzit as he wouldn't stop wriggling when Onua tried to pick him up. The look on Wotzit's face was comical and everyone was still chuckling by the time he reached the Po-metru side of the causeway, "We must quick-find you a Miru shadow-sister." Lewa commented as he set me down, "It'll be very useful." she replied, smiling at the lanky green Toa. Wotzit went and nudged Nuju's hand gently then followed him as the group continued on their way to Po-metru.

Sherrie moved to walk beside Onewa, whom was talking with Takanuva and Gali about how similar it looked to parts of Po-wahi and walked with them, listening with interest. The sun had nearly set when they came across the remains of an assemblers village that wasn't as badly damaged as the others they'd seen and Aikane used the shadows to re-roof one of the huts. Settling down beside Aikane for the night Sherrie wondered what the next few days would bring.

…

Everyone was roused by the sound of Wotzit chasing an old kolhii ball round the hut, and while Aikane dismissed the shadows that had served as the roof Sherrie went over to Vakama. "Where is it we're going Turaga?" she asked, as what with one thing and another she'd not found out yesterday. "We are heading for the canyon of Unending Whispers, though with the chutes being down it will take a few days." he told her.

"OW! Be careful Wotzit!" Takanuva yelped as Wotzit had dropped the kolhii ball on his foot, Hahli and Jaller started sniggering. As Takanuva picked up the ball, Wotzit started jumping about excitedly, so Takanuva threw it through the door and the gold/black rahi shot after it.

On leaving the hut Sherrie was looking around to see where Wotzit had gone, couldn't see him anywhere. Then a volley of 'let's play' barking came from round a corner not far away. She and Hahli hurried over to see what he was doing as the others came out of the hut and followed curious to see. Reaching the corner they looked around it to see that Wotzit was trying to get a very realistic carving of an ashbear to join in and play with him, he even picked up the ball and dropped it at it's feet. "Oh you really are the daftest, Wotzit." Hahli chuckled as he came over to her and then ran back to the statue to try again, "If he wants someone to play with." Aikane started to say when Sherrie looked up at her and nodded, "Great idea."

As Wotzit bounced over to see if they were going to play with him and his new friend, Aikane snapped her fingers and Wotzit’s shadow twin emerged, naturally Wotzit was delighted and they started shoving the ball around and generally mucking about. With both Wotzit and his shadow twin following, the group made their way northwards, leaving the more built up areas of Po-metru which meant they needed to take several detours around some areas where the buildings had collapsed and blocked the streets.

It was roughly early afternoon and Onewa was talking with the Vahki about how Po-metru used to look and trying to work out how long it would take to rebuild it. "Now that I'm able to move freely, I'd like to help if that's alright." the Vahki said. Onewa smiled "I think your help would be greatly appreciated." he replied as they skirted round what had been a statue of Toa Lhikan. Hewkii looked closely at part of the statue and whistled, "Who ever carved this is very talented."

Nuju looked over at Onewa as if to say, _"Shall you tell him or shall I?"_ as Onewa laughed "I remember you saying to the one who worked on this," he brushed his hand over it affectionately, "That it was one of his best." "I did?" Hewkii looked puzzled "It's not Hafu’s or Ahkmou's work." then he looked at Onewa, "Is this your work Turaga?" As Onewa nodded Hewkii grinned, "It's better than Hafu’s!"

As everyone moved onwards towards the less built up area where Onewa told us quite a few carvers liked to work, as it was generally quieter. Moving further northwards they spent a bit of time looking at the unfinished carvings, Sherrie was quite interested in the variance of the colours in the stones and was deep in conversation with Onewa, Pohatu and Hewkii about it. When Kopaka found a not too damaged hut that Aikane could re-roof, and then they settled down as night fell.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning stared suddenly by the group being woken with the ground shaking, Sherrie grabbed Wotzit's collar, as he wanted to go and play with whoever was making the noise. "Is it a bioquake?" the Vahki asked as they sat waiting for the shaking to subside, "No," said Onewa surprised as he glanced out the door "It's a herd of Kikanalo!" While trying to get a look Aikane accidentally released control of the shadow roof and it swiftly vanished. One of them must have seen it dissolve, as a call came from the chief and the herd came to a halt and looked around. The toa and Turaga looked at each other, then as Nokama got up and moved towards the door they followed her. Moving outside they waited to see what would happen, then Wotzit managed to wriggle out of Sherrie's grasp and went straight over to make friends.

"Wotzit come back!" the human called but he paid no attention. While the Kikanalo chief looked at Wotzit as he jumped around trying to get him to play, then the chief growled something as Nokama activated her Rau and translated. "The chief wonders who we are and what we are doing." When she replied, the chief threw his head up surprised then looked closely at the rest of the Turaga, especially Vakama and Matau.Then he glanced over at one of the Kikanalo and rumbled softly, "Matau," Nokama said, "Someone wants to say hello." As he walked over to Nokama and the chief another Kikanalo came up, looked curiously at Matau and then licked his mask. "Arrgh," Matau yelped wiping his mask "I remember-know you too!" Then he started laughing as the rest joined them. Wotzit still trying to get one of them to play with him, "Oh Wotzit calm down." Sherrie said then jumped as one of the Kikanalo nudged her; it rumbled something then looked at Nokama whom laughed, "The young one wonders if the strange rahi wants to play." Sherrie grinned "Half the time he doesn't want to do anything else!"

What followed was even funnier than Wotzit's first meeting with the ashbear, as the Kikanalo started chasing Wotzit then she would suddenly change direction and let him chase her. After roughly twenty minutes Wotzit was completely knackered, he sat down and then lay flat out, after looking at Wotzit for a few minutes, the Kikanalo sat beside him using her shadow to help him cool down.

While Wotzit calmed down, Nokama and the chief talked about why they were all travelling through Po-metru, so the rest took the opportunity to have a good look at the other Kikanalo. They amazed the Vahki, "I always thought that all the rahi had left after Makuta and the Visorak ruined the city." he said as he sat stroking Wotzit who was now fast asleep."Maybe they found somewhere safe to hide from the danger that ran riot until it was safe to return." Onua said as Nokama and the chief carried on talking. Lewa was standing with Matau beside the Kikanalo who'd given him a lift when Matau had been Toa Metru, "We led the Dark hunters on a quick-dodging chase didn't we." Matau grinned at the Kikanalo who nodded enthusiastically. The Kikanalo chief got up from where he'd been resting while talking with Nokama as she told the others that he'd said that the Kikanalo would take them the rest of the way to the canyon of unending whispers.

The Kikanalo gathered round as they walked over to Nokama, then ten Kikanalo, including the chief, crouched down for them to climb on. Wotzit by this time had recovered and was looking for more fun; on seeing he was awake the chief said something to Nokama who was now sat on his back with Gali behind her. "Sherrie," Nokama called over to the human, by now Aikane and the human were sitting on the Kikanalo who'd been playing with Wotzit, "The chief is wondering if your friend can keep up?" "I'm not sure," she replied, "But I'll keep an eye on him." Then the Kikanalo she and Aikane were on said something, which made Nokama laugh, "The young one just said that if Wotzit gets tired, then he can ride on her back too." Sherrie grinned and lent forwards to the Kikanalo's head, "Thank you." The female growled softly in reply while the others climbed onto the other Kikanalo.

Sherrie nudged Aikane, "I see the ones who first gave Matau and Vakama a lift are insisting on doing it again." as one of the other Kikanalo had moved over to Vakama and crouched down to let him get on. "Was it you I rode on last time?" they heard Vakama ask as Tahu stood beside him, the Kikanalo looked around and nodded. When everyone had got settled on the Kikanalo, the chief called out and the herd started off towards the canyon of unending whispers with Wotzit charging along side. They'd got quite a distance before Aikane had to jump off and lift Wotzit up onto the Kikanalo's back, he was so tired that he slept for most of the way.

While Sherrie kept her eye on Wotzit, she 'heard' Aikane asking Gali if Nokama had found out how the Kikanalo had avoided the troubles that hit Metru Nui, they watched as Gali said something to Nokama who nodded and replied. _"Yes she did ask,"_ they heard Gali reply, _"It seems that when extreme danger threatens the Kikanalo that they can move inside the rocks and go into a form of suspended animation until the danger has passed."_ She paused as Nokama translated the rest of what she'd been told, _"The chief says that they came out of the hidden sleep roughly 200 years ago and have been roaming here ever since."_ Aikane and Sherrie were thinking about that when their attention was caught by Hahli and Macku laughing at Lewa who'd been doing back flips and had missed the landing of his last one and was now sprawled on the ground. Lewa quickly jumped up and jumped back onto the Kikanalo who was snorting with amusement while Matau sniggered.

"That was an interesting hard-land." Matau said as Lewa just grinned. They then saw the outcrop that led to the canyon appearing in the distance, as the Kikanalo approached a sandy plain they started slowing down as the word was passed that the ground was rather unstable just ahead. Sherrie held Wotzit closer just in case he tried something even though he was still tired. It took a few hours to get through the plain with one slight alarm when one of the herd slipped and had to yank it's foot out of what looked like quicksand, Kopaka helped by freezing the stuff so that the Kikanalo could get to firmer ground. When they all reached firm ground again, the other Kikanalo gathered round the one who'd slipped to make sure it was alright. After letting that Kikanalo rest for a few minutes, the chief called out and everyone started off again.

Half an hour later, Wotzit was starting to get restless, _"Gali could you ask Nokama to ask the chief if it's safe now for Wotzit to have a run."_ Sherrie enquired, Gali glanced back, had a quick word with Turaga Nokama then smiled and nodded, _"Ok."_ Then she lent forward to speak with Nokama, Sherrie waited a few moments then smiled when Gali told her it was alright to let Wotzit run. So she asked the Kikanalo if she could stop and then Aikane jumped down with Wotzit in her arms, put him down and then remounted. After a quick sniff around he started chasing after the herd again.

It was early afternoon when they reached the canyon of unending whispers and as everybody dismounted; Sherrie found she needed to ask for help as she'd got stuck from riding for so long and had stiffened up. As the violet hued Toa came to assist her sister, Nuju got there first and used his Matatu, Sherrie's eyes widened as she could feel herself rising off the Kikanalo's back and then set carefully on the ground. "Thank you Turaga," she smiled then muttered, "You can tell it's been ages since I've been on rahi back!" Nuju nodded and then let Kopaka help him down. Gali came over to see how her sister was doing as the others helped the other Turaga down; Hahli and the other matoran were thanking the Kikanalo for the ride. Then the group started walking into the canyon with the Kikanalo around them, as the afternoon sunshine shone onto the canyon walls Sherrie moved closer towards the Turaga and listened as they talked with the Toa about clearing a blocked entrance.

When they reached the area where the blocked entrance was, the human couldn't help but shudder when she saw the carving around the entrance and unconsciously took a step back. "It's only a carving Sherrie." said Tahu as he stopped and looked at the anxious human, "I know, it's just that it's brings back some very unpleasant memories." she replied as the unwanted memory of Makuta standing over her rose in her mind. When she began shaking uncontrollably, Aikane quickly came over and held Sherrie until the shaking eased, Gali heard her fiercely thinking, _"He'll never harm you again if I can help it sister!"_ The Turaga on seeing Sherrie's reaction to the carving were having a quick discussion about it, then Whenua came over to where Gali, Aikane and Takanuva had gathered protectively around the human. Then Turaga Onewa came over, "As it'll take a while to clear the blockage we'll start tomorrow, we are going to rest round that corner tonight so that you don't have to look at the entrance any more" he said. "Thank you Turaga," came the human's subdued reply, "It may not be so fearful in full daylight." The Kikanalo looked on with interest as the group found a fairly stone free area and settled down for the evening.

Half way through the night Sherrie's sleep was disrupted by images of being chased by dark red-eyed figures and she woke up screaming, something she'd not done for years. While Aikane hugged her Takanuva used his mask to brighten the area around them and the other Toa gathered around them. "Great Spirit, you're so pale!" Tahu exclaimed when he got a good look at her, the human just, stared at him shaking so much she was unable to reply. When Turaga Nokama and Onewa came over, Gali was speaking softly with them; she must have then spoken to Aikane as she shifted round to let Gali sit on the human's right. A startled whimper came from Sherrie as Onewa who had moved to stand behind her and gently rested his hands on her shoulders. He activated his Komau and nodded at the Toa watching him before repeating, _"Relax, sleep nothing can harm you."_ then watched as Sherrie's eyes slowly closed and she drifted into a dreamless sleep. As the human sank into the Komau induced sleep, Onewa looked at Gali and Aikane "She'll be alright when she awakes." he said wearily as Nokama steadied him. "Come and sit down brother." she said helping him to a spot nearby where the Turaga sat, as the rest of the Toa moved closer, Wotzit who had been curled up with the Kikanalo came and curled up beside Sherrie. The Kikanalo chief asked Nokama something then nodded at her reply and rested his head back on his forepaws and went to sleep.

...

Lewa was the first to wake up and his moving over to see how Onewa and Sherrie were, woke Wotzit who started following him as the lanky green Toa checked the area. Not long after everyone but Onewa and Sherrie had woken, so the others took turns watching them while the others worked on clearing the entrance with enthusiastic assistance from the Kikanalo.

Sherrie slowly woke up and for a while just lay there feeling calm, then she remembered what had happened the previous night and sat up suddenly startling Kopaka who was sitting nearby. "Is Turaga Onewa alright?" she asked as Kopaka gave her a hand up, "Yes, he still sleeps." Kopaka replied, nodding towards where Onewa rested. "It's good to see you looking normal again." he added as they went to see Nokama and Pohatu who's turn it was to watch over Onewa. "May I help you watch Onewa?" Sherrie asked, as she was still worried about him. Nokama nodded, "Before he fell asleep he murmured that you may want to." she replied as Pohatu shifted over to make space. "How are you feeling now?" she then asked, Sherrie blushed "Really embarrassed, I haven't had a nightmare like that for years!" Just then Onewa opened his eyes and blinked before looking at us and smiled, then carefully sat up, "Turaga how are you feeling?" Sherrie asked, still looking concerned.

Onewa got up and came over to where Sherrie sat, "I am alright, I had to use the full strength of my Komau as you are not like us." he explained as he gently squeezed her shoulder. Then Pohatu, Nokama and Sherrie stood up and moved to join Kopaka who'd started back towards the area where the entrance was, Sherrie paused for a few seconds then followed. She wasn't going to let a nightmare or bad memories drive her away, _"That's the spirit, sister."_ Aikane said as the human caught up with the others. They had just reached the corner when a tremendous crash reverberated through the canyon followed by a cheer, as they hurried round the corner they saw that the entrance was clear and part of the carving had been demolished. Pohatu grinned, "Now that's an improvement." he said as they approached the others.

Wotzit came bouncing over and head butted his owner affectionately, as she rubbed his ears. Tahu was saying something to Aikane as she shifted some rubble, "Sherrie why don't you stay here with the Turaga and we'll help finish the clearing up." Pohatu suggested as he and Kopaka headed over to assist the other Toa. "Feeling better sister?" Sherrie heard Aikane and Gali ask me as Nokama, Onewa and Sherrie went and waited with the rest of the Turaga, "Yes, thank you." she replied sitting down beside Matau and Onewa, while Wotzit followed the Toa to see if he was missing something. Not long after Takanuva came over and told those waiting that the entrance was safe to enter, so they followed him back and found that not only was the entrance cleared but the carving of Makuta's mask had been reduced to rubble. One of the Kikanalo was just finishing crushing it by standing on the last piece. As they said their 'thank you' to the Kikanalo, the chief said that they would wait for them until they returned.

The Kikanalo and Wotzit settled to rest in the mid-morning sunlight as their friends moved into the tunnel, Aikane was keeping close to Sherrie. While Takanuva used his mask to illuminate where we were going, Vakama and Whenua giving directions.

After walking for sometime the light from Takanuva's mask started reflecting off of what looked like a sphere of some kind "What's that?" the Vahki asked puzzled. "It's the only capsule left to be opened." Vakama said quietly as they reached it. "Turaga is this where you found the true Turaga Dume?" Tahu asked, Vakama looked up at him and nodded, as the other Turaga gathered around it. Then Vakama glanced back towards the capsule, gasped then blinked as Matau asked, "A dream-vision?" Vakama still looked a little surprised, "Yes, we have to take Turaga Dume to the coliseum." he said.

Gali and everyone else moved closer to watch as Nuju showed Kopaka how to open the capsule and then Lewa and Aikane carefully lifted out the sleeping form of Turaga Dume. "How can we tell if this is the true Turaga Dume?" asked Onua puzzled, the Vahki smiled, "I can sense that he is Turaga Dume." As they retraced their way back towards the tunnel entrance the Toa took turns at bearing the sleeping Turaga between them. On reaching the entrance, they emerged into the early afternoon light, the Kikanalo gathered round rumbling curiously and watched as Tahu and Takanuva gently placed Dume on the ground. Then Nokama asked the chief if the herd would be able to take them to the edge of Po-metru, the chief looked thoughtfully at the sleeping Turaga then nodded and said something to her.

"The chief says that they will be willing to take us through Po-metru, until it gets too awkward for them to go any further." she translated as the other Kikanalo nodded in agreement. After a discussion on who would take care of Turaga Dume, was decided that Takanuva and Aikane would take turns carrying him. When everyone had got settled on the Kikanalo and Aikane had carefully positioned Dume in front of her, while Sherrie sat behind with her arms round Aikane's waist, The chief called out and the herd headed back towards the place where they'd met. The herd reached the area where the unstable ground was as dusk was starting to fall so they stopped and Wotzit flopped down as everyone dismounted, while Aikane and Sherrie waited for Takanuva to give her a hand with Turaga Dume. She said, "I wonder if he will awake when we get to the coliseum?" Sherrie peered around her violet hued sister at Dume, "It'll be interesting to find out." she replied as Takanuva came over accompanied by Nuju.

As Aikane lifted Dume up, Nuju's Matatu activated to assist them. And after Takanuva had placed Dume near the Turaga, Sherrie quickly checked on Wotzit, he was out cold snoring beside one of the Kikanalo. So she joined the others around a fire that Jaller had made and listened as the Toa speculated on what they'd find at the coliseum. While listening Sherrie slowly became aware that the symbol on her hand was tingling as if she had pins and needles. Glancing around she was surprised to see that Aikane and Gali were subconsciously flexing their right hands. Hahli who was looking at the sky suddenly gasped, "Wow look at how bright that star's got!" Everyone looked to where she was pointing, and were amazed, as the star was as bright as the full moon. Then the tingling feeling faded and as it did the star suddenly flashed brighter then faded back to the brightness that Jaller, Hahli and Macku had first seen.

"Wow! What was that about?" Macku was the first to ask, as everyone sat there blinking the after-effect of the light burst away, "I'm not sure," Sherrie replied "But my hand felt strange while it happened." "So did mine." Gali and Aikane said together then chuckled. Blinking the last of the after-effect away, she moved over and sat beside them as they looked baffled _"You're looking just how I'm feeling!"_ Sherrie thought which made them laugh as the conversation resumed around them. Then she yawned "Sorry I'm kinda sleepy." she mumbled as Gali glanced at her, then Aikane chuckled, "It's alright sister." giving her a hug, _"I'll guard your dreams."_ Sherrie heard her sisters whisper as she lent against Aikane and drifted off to sleep.

...

When she woke the next day Sherrie found herself still leant against Aikane, the violet hued Toa's arm still around her shoulders. As she looked around she realised that she had used her shadow twin power as she was also sitting with the Turaga talking about what had happened the previous night. Sherrie shifted position and the shadow twin glanced down and smiled, then helped her up, as they walked over to Aikane the shadow twin slowly faded from sight. Wotzit who was sitting with Lewa came over to his owner as she reached where the Turaga were sitting. Pohatu smiled, "Morning Sherrie." she grinned, "Morning." as Wotzit insisted she made a fuss of him. Kopaka, Tahu and Nokama came over from where she'd been talking with the Kikanalo chief, "Gali, the chief's wondering if you don't mind if Kopaka rides with him today, as if there are any more quicksand areas then they can be dealt with quickly." Nokama said, Gali nodded, "I was thinking something along those lines myself." she agreed.

As everyone stood up Takanuva and Aikane lifted Turaga Dume and walked over to the Kikanalo Takanuva'd been on yesterday, Jaller was already standing beside the Kikanalo waiting for them. Takanuva climbed on and Jaller sat behind him then Aikane snapped her fingers and her shadow twin reappeared and helped her to support Dume before lifting him up to Takanuva. While the rest were climbing onto the Kikanalo, the chief looked over at Gali, Aikane and Sherrie, and said something to Nokama who looked surprised. Then she said something to the chief and he moved towards the Kikanalo that Gali and Nuju were on so that Nokama could tell Gali what the chief had said. Aikane was giving Sherrie a hand up when they heard Gali exclaim, "Sister are you alright?" Sherrie asked as she settled in front of Aikane, then both looked over at their blue hued sister.

She didn't say anything but after getting settled she looked closely at her right hand, then she glanced over at her sisters, _"Have you looked at you right hands since last night?"_ Gali asked them as the Kikanalo headed slowly out across the unsafe area with Wotzit staying close to the Kikanalo, Aikane and Sherrie glanced at each other puzzled, then glanced at their right hands. "Whoa!" Sherrie exclaimed, the symbol on her palm was now a mix of silver and violet that seemed to slowly swirl around. On Aikane's palm was the outline of the Bionicle symbol shimmered in silver.

"Nokama says the chief noticed a glow around our hands in the instant before the star suddenly brightened last night Gali then told them. _"I wonder what the connection is?"_ Sherrie commented glancing back at her hand, _"Is your hand marked too?"_ she asked curiously, looking over to Gali who nodded and lifted her hand to show them, the outline on her palm was silver like Aikane's. It was then they realised that their conversation had taken them past the unsafe area and the Kikanalo had stopped as Wotzit needed a lift to get his breath back.

Aikane was about to get down to help Wotzit up, when the Kikanalo Lewa and Matau were on came over and Lewa jumped down. "You look like you need some more thought-time," he said as he picked Wotzit up, "So we'll carry-lift Wotzit for now." "Thank you." Aikane smiled as she jumped down to help him. The Kikanalo chief moved over to the one that Gali and Nuju were sitting on and she swapped places with Kopaka, then when everyone was settled again the chief called out and they started off. As they'd passed the unstable ground the herd picked up the pace and the landscape fairly flew past. It was roughly just after midday when the Kikanalo started to slow down as they approached more remains of assemblers villages, the chief then asked Nokama something to which she replied "Yes it looks like we are."

Pohatu was looking round interested as Onewa pointed out the area where the remains of the village where he used to carve, then the Kikanalo chief rumbled and the herd slowed to a walk. Tahu called over to Nokama, "Does the chief want us to dismount?" Nokama asked the chief then replied, "Not yet, they are able to go a bit further." As the herd continued walking Sherrie glanced up at Aikane, she seemed to have dozed off and the human could hear her murmuring in her sleep but was unable to make out what she was saying. Then she blinked and her eyes were more blue than aqua, Sherrie quickly stifled her gasp of surprise so that she didn't disturb Aikane's conversation with her father. _"Sherrie, what's up?"_ the human heard Gali ask as by now the Kikanalo were moving in rows of two or three _"It looks like Aikane is speaking with Mata Nui."_ she replied, glancing up at Aikane again.

Aikane still had her eyes closed and had started to smile, then she quietly laughed and opened her eyes which had returned to aqua.

Kopaka and Nuju on the Kikanalo beside them watched with interest as Aikane thought about what Mata Nui had said, glancing over at Kopaka and Nuju she then said, "I can't tell you all that he told me, but what I can, I'll tell you all when we get to the edge of Po-metru and later." Kopaka nodded as the Kikanalo stopped and they saw the others were dismounting. While Aikane helped Sherrie down, Nuju whistled something then smiled when Aikane grinned, "Nice try Turaga." she laughed, they walked over to join the others after thanking the Kikanalo for giving them a lift. When they reached the Kikanalo who'd given Matau and Lewa a lift, Wotzit was bouncing around as the Kikanalo watched Lewa helping Matau down, then when they were just about to thank her, she managed to lick both of them "Argh, not again!" Matau laughed as Lewa grinned broadly.

After Matau had stopped laughing long enough to thank the Kikanalo, everyone moved forwards to where the chief Kikanalo and the others were waiting. On reaching them the chief said something to Nokama who translated "The chief says it's good to see that flat-walkers are going to return here and looks forward to seeing the island reawakening." Then the chief moved over to Aikane and Sherrie and as Wotzit sat, he gently nudged them then rumbled something to the pair. Nokama who'd heard what the chief had said, translated, "He wishes you good luck on the life path you're on." she told us as the chief nodded, then the herd turned round and started back to the wilder areas of Po-metru, the group waved farewell until they had moved out of sight.

They stood in the afternoon sunlight watching the dust cloud from the Kikanalo fade into the distance, Sherrie holding onto Wotzit as he wanted to follow them. They then started walking in the direction of the coliseum and when they reached the edge of Po-metru, Aikane paused and as everyone turned to watch her, she told everyone part of what had happened. "On the ride I was spoken to by Mata Nui, and he said that four will awaken Turaga Dume," When Aikane paused for a second to collect her thoughts Takanuva asked who the four were, "He didn't name them, he just said when the time came they would know." she replied. Then the group headed onwards to the coliseum discussing what their violet sister had said, the closer they got to the causeway that led to the coliseum the harder it became to find a path through the fallen carvings, buildings and other bits of debris.

After scrambling over some rubble Sherrie turned to give Onewa a hand and noticed he was looking a bit embarrassed about something. "Are you alright Turaga?" she asked as he got his breath back while they waited for Nuju, Matau, Kopaka, Lewa and the Vahki to catch up. He chuckled, "I'd forgotten how much of this mess I caused fighting the Visorak" the human looked around and whistled, "That must have been some fight!" As the others had caught up with them, they carried on clambering over the badly blocked areas. The light was starting to fade into twilight and they looked round for somewhere to rest, after a bit of scouting around Macku found a spot that after a little tidying up was fine.

While Sherrie got Wotzit to settle down Nokama came over to keep her company until Wotzit fell asleep, then Turaga Nokama tapped Sherrie's arm and whispered, "Vakama's come across something he thinks you should have a look at." She then led the human over to where Vakama, the other Turaga and the Toa were looking at the remains of a wall, as they reached it Vakama looked up at Sherrie. "This carving had everyone on Metru Nui baffled for centuries. I thought it had been destroyed, when the Vahki found it we wondered if you might have any ideas about it." Now curious, the human joined Vakama then looked at the carving, to her surprise the carving was of a hand with the Bionicle symbol on the palm. "Have Gali and Aikane seen it?" she asked glancing at Vakama, "Yes, and they are just as puzzled." he replied, as they moved back to where the matoran had settled and sat beside them and continued to discuss the carving.

After a while Onua looked around frowning in puzzlement, "Where's that light coming from?" he asked. As everyone else glanced round, they realised that the strange star must have risen and was brighting the sky just like the full moon. The Toa Turaga, Sherrie and the Vahki moved a short distance to get a better look, while the matoran and Wotzit stayed with Dume Though the brightness of the star was stunning it was still the same size. After watching it for a while the group headed back to the camp, on the way back Pohatu inadvertently skidded on some rubble and stumbled into some pillars that were lent against the remains of a wall. "NO!" he cried looking up as the pillars started falling towards Nuju and Nokama who scrambled to get out the way. The Vahki jumped passed Sherrie and managed to stall the falling pillars long enough for Nuju and Nokama to get to a safe spot, then his grip slipped and the pillars collapsed, burying him.

Tahu and Onua hurriedly began moving the debris aside while Kopaka and Pohatu pulled the Vahki out from under the fallen pillars that he had held so that the Turaga could get to safety. They saw he was in a bad way, bleeding from several deep cuts and one leg badly broken. Gali hurried over and was about to ask some of the others to help her heal him, when Aikane and Sherrie joined her to assist "Sister?" she asked puzzled, then paused as if she'd heard/remembered something before adding "Now I understand." They quickly knelt around the Vahki, his heartlight was fading rapidly. Sherrie held out her symbol marked hand, then Aikane placed her hand beside it and as Gali completed the triangle, bright silver/violet light appeared between their palms and flowed down to cover the Vahki completely.

It was so bright that they couldn't see him but the trio could feel a lot of energy flowing through them into him. Sherrie was vaguely aware of the others watching turning to cover their eyes. Then the light slowly faded and as they watched everyone murmured in surprise, the Vahki had changed completely. Laying there now was a light gold/violet matoran, then Aikane lent forwards, touched his shoulder and shook it, murmuring, "Wake up little one, I have something to tell you." As the other Toa and Turaga moved closer to watch, the matoran's heartlight grew stronger and he started to stir. His eyes blinked open then he sat up looking puzzled, before exclaiming, "Are Turaga Nuju and Nokama unharmed?" "Yes they are, thanks to you." Tahu said, then he called Jaller over. The new matoran let Aikane help him stand, then he gasped on realizing what had happened and whispered, "I'm not a Vahki any more?"

Aikane smiled "Little one," she said "It is part of your destiny, and your name is Ahonui." "I-I-I have a name?" he stammered surprised and looked up at the Toa and Turaga who smiled and nodded. Jaller who was now standing by Tahu said, "Come and have a sit down Ahonui, I remember being a bit confused after something similar happened to me. So I know how you're feeling." While Ahonui followed Jaller over to the other matoran and Wotzit, the Turaga turned back to watch Aikane, Gali and Sherrie, who were still knelt down. As the after-effect of healing Ahonui then caught up with them, Aikane sighed and slumped to the ground unconscious closely followed by her sisters.

Tahu still looked a little stunned when Jaller and Ahonui walked past him, so he was about to crouch down and have a word with Ahonui when a gasp came from Lewa, "Sisters are you alright?" "Jaller go and introduce Ahonui to the others while we tend to our sisters." he said straightening up and moving over to help the other Toa carry them back to the camp. As they carefully laid them beside Turaga Dume, Wotzit came and nudged Sherrie's arm then sniffed at Gali and Aikane, then settled down between Gali and his owner. While everyone settled down, Ahonui looked over at the sleeping Toa and human, "Will they be alright?" he asked worriedly as Turaga Nuju and Matoro moved over to sit beside him, Nokama had also shifted over to sit closer. Nuju said something and waited for Matoro to translate, "All they will need is rest." Matoro reassured him as Nokama added, "I think it will be a bit longer than usual, that's the strongest healing Gali has ever done." Then she patted Ahonui's arm, "Thank you for saving us." she added as Nuju nodded and smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

As the next day dawned Hahli and Matoro were first to awaken and glanced over to where Aikane, Gali and Sherrie rested. Wotzit who had now shifted around saw they were looking over towards his owner and started wagging his tail before getting up and coming over to them. Then while the others started to wake up, Wotzit followed Matoro to where Ahonui was sitting listening to Whenua telling him about the Onu-metru archives, as Takanuva headed over to sit beside Aikane, Gali and Sherrie.

After a while Hewkii and Jaller went over to Ahonui to see how he was adjusting to what had happened "It's even odder than when Sherrie first touched my hand." Ahonui replied as he glanced over to where she still slept. Lewa, who was talking with Pohatu glanced around. "I'm sure they'll be glad-hearted to see you when they're open-eyed." he said smiling as Pohatu nodded.  
"That's true." he added as Ahonui headed over with Jaller and Hewkii to where the Toa and human still slept and sat beside Takanuva.

Jaller was telling Ahonui about his and Takua's quest as Ahonui had asked Jaller what he'd meant about being just as confused by something that had happened to him. Then Ahonui glanced up at Takanuva, he was just about to ask something when Aikane opened her eyes and sat up, "How long have we been sleeping?" she asked glancing curiously at Takanuva as Gali and Sherrie roused.  
"All night and half the morning." he replied as they got up and headed over to where Tahu, Kopaka and Onua were talking with the Turaga. Ahonui was walking beside Sherrie as Wotzit kept nudging him, "Wotzit wants you to make a fuss of him, Ahonui." she grinned as Ahonui did look puzzled by Wotzit's antics.

"If it's any help," Hahli said coming over "I've still got the Frisbee." As she pulled it out, Wotzit then started trying to pull it out of her hand, "Wotzit, hold your rahi." Sherrie laughed as he started barking excitedly.  
While Wotzit stayed with Hahli and Ahonui and she explained how to throw the Frisbee, Sherrie reached where the Toa and Turaga were talking and listened as Vakama and Matau told us about the coliseum.  
"We should be able to reach it by sundown." said Kopaka who'd been scanning the way ahead, "There aren't too many large piles of rubble in the way." Then Tahu who'd been watching Ahonui as he threw the Frisbee to Macku who'd joined in amusing Wotzit asked, "How's your hand Sherrie?" she glanced down at her hand. "It's feeling alright." she said showing it to him, the symbol was still the slowly moving silver/violet mix it had been since the star-burst two days before.

She glanced over to Aikane and Gali, "Are your hands still marked?" she asked curiously, they nodded. "Yes and the symbols' outline seems to have strengthened." Gali said as she and Aikane showed their sister, the outlined symbols were indeed more intense than when they'd first appeared. While Sherrie shifted closer to get a better look, Onua and Kopaka headed over to lift Turaga Dume up and make a start towards the coliseum.  
As they followed Onua and Kopaka, Matau and Lewa walked beside Aikane and Gali while Sherrie asked Vakama, "Where abouts in the coliseum are we going?"

"We will stay in the arena as the tower may not be safe." he replied as the early afternoon sunlight shone down and as Kopaka and Onua swapped places with Tahu and Pohatu, they clambered over a large area of rubble and got their first look at what was left of the coliseum. Lewa whistled "That's tall-bigger than the trees that support-lift Le-koro!"  
When they got back to the ground again, Tahu and Pohatu let Aikane and Takanuva take a turn at carrying Turaga Dume and the group started towards the last pile of rubble. While giving Nokama a hand over the last pile Sherrie lost her footing and made a rather bumpy descent to the ground. "Ouch!!" she muttered annoyed with herself as she looked at a graze on her arm, "Great more bruises for the collection!" When Gali helped her try and stand up they realised that Sherrie had also sprained her ankle. "Don't worry about it, it'll ease soon. I'll just have to go even slower for a while." Sherrie smiled up Gali as she looked concerned, "If I had a bandage I'd strap it up for a while."

Then Sherrie glanced at her t-shirt, "Aikane, can your shadow twin power work on material?" she asked her violet hued sister as she let Lewa swap places carrying Dume then scrambled down the rubble to join her sisters. "I'm not sure." Aikane said as she reached them. They waited until everyone had climbed down from the rubble, then Aikane took hold of the sleeve of Sherrie's t-shirt and concentrated. When a twin of it appeared in her lap she laughed delightedly, "It works."  
With a little help from one of Lewa's Air-katana it only took a few minutes to strap up Sherrie's ankle and then we carried on towards the coliseum. Gali was still looking worried as the human glanced up at her, "It's alright sis, I'm forever doing daft things like that." Sherrie grinned, then made her and the others laugh when she explained that she was an expert at tripping over thin air.

The sun had nearly set when the group reached the outside of the coliseum and the Turaga paused for a moment while everyone gathered around them. "The entrance is just over there." Onewa said as daylight started to fade, while they headed towards it, Takanuva and Aikane let Lewa and Onua take over carrying Dume as Vakama had said that they would need extra light going through the passageway leading to the arena.  
While Takanuva walked with the Turaga, Lewa and Onua followed then while everyone else joined on behind. When they reached the arena they were amazed at how big it was, "Wow, you could hold several kolhii games at once!" Hahli exclaimed as Hewkii whistled stunned, then Pohatu asked the Turaga if they would be resting where they were or moving to another part of the arena.

Vakama was about to say something when Aikane suddenly exclaimed, "Now I understand!" as everyone looked at her curiously she explained, "When Mata Nui spoke to me, He said that I must look to the centre again," Then she laughed, "We have to place Turaga Dume in the centre of the arena." As they moved towards the centre of the arena, Takanuva lit the way around debris for everyone.  
Then when the group reached the centre, Lewa and Onua carefully placed Turaga Dume down. "Any idea what happens now?" Tahu said looking over at Vakama and Aikane, as night fell and the stars grew brighter, the matoran started a camp-fire. "I'm not sure." Aikane said looking embarrassed while Vakama glanced around saying, "We'll have to wait and see." Everyone settled down and discussed some of the things that had occurred on the way to the coliseum, then after a while they glanced up, realising that the starlight was getting brighter.

As everyone looked up they couldn't help but gasp in surprise, the star that had mystified them was moving steadily across the sky and while they watched it stopped directly above the centre of the arena. "Sherrie," Kopaka suddenly exclaimed, "Look at your hand!" puzzled, she did and saw the symbol was now blazing brightly. She then glanced over to Aikane and Gali, they nodded and showed her that their hands were also glowing brightly, the trio then heard a whisper,

_"It's time."_

  
Ahonui stood up and came over to where Sherrie sat, as she glanced at him, she noticed he was looking bewildered. "Did I just hear someone say it's time?" he asked, while everyone else watched intrigued, Aikane and Gali got up and joined the matoran and human, "Yes Ahonui, we did too." Gali said.

The four then moved to stand around Turaga Dume, Ahonui at his feet, Aikane and Gali either side and Sherrie at Dume's head. They looked at each other, wondering what would happen next when the star silently exploded into streams of light, which flowed into Aikane, Gali and Ahonui. Then as though they were entranced Aikane and Gali raised their right hands while Ahonui raised both and the light leapt from them into the startled human, the energy of the light was so strong that she was nearly overwhelmed. Managing to kneel down without falling, Sherrie leant forward and placed her symbol marked hand on to Dume's forehead. As the light energy flowed through into him, she realised that Gali, Aikane and Ahonui were now sitting down watching as everyone else moved closer to see.

The light seemed to form a cocoon around Turaga Dume, while Takanuva helped Sherrie up, she could have sworn that she'd heard the Great Spirit's voice whisper..

_"Wait for morning."_

"Did anyone else just hear that?" she asked looking around as Lewa helped Aikane up, "Yes." Kopaka murmured as he helped Gali while Jaller helped Ahonui. The group moved back and then settled around the fire before suddenly realising that the star had completely disappeared and quietly talked about what it could mean. As Wotzit curled against Sherrie, she noticed that the shadow bandage had also vanished, on seeing that, she and Aikane started trying to figure out just what had happened.  
After a while Whenua glanced over at Gali, Aikane, Ahonui and Sherrie, "How are you feeling?" he asked us as the discussion eased slightly "I'm feeling really tried but not sleepy." Aikane was the first to reply as her sisters and Ahonui nodded in agreement, then everyone carried on talking and occasionally checking Turaga Dume, as the night progressed they eventually fell asleep.

...

As Sherrie woke the next day, she became aware of someone gently shaking her arm. When she opened her eyes she was slightly dazzled by the morning sun and couldn't make out which Turaga was crouched beside her. "Hang on Turaga." she murmured rubbing her eyes, when he asked "Are you the stranger of whom Mata Nui spoke?"  
At that moment Vakama woke up and glanced over on seeing that Turaga Dume was peering curiously at Wotzit and Sherrie, Vakama then roused the other Turaga, Aikane who had also been awake for a few minutes roused her brothers and sister. The Turaga went over to where Turaga Dume had now sat beside Sherrie as she explained to him who she was and what had happened since she'd first awoke on Metru Nui.  
After Sherrie had finished telling him; Turaga Dume then looked at everyone who had now gathered around, "I've seen your images below the Great Temple," he said to Tahu and the others "But where is Toa Lhikan and what has happened here?" he asked looking around the group with a puzzled frown.

Vakama and the other Turaga looked at each other, "Could you excuse us a while?" asked Nokama, then they all gathered a short distance away. As they waited, Wotzit was fussing around Turaga Dume, "What is it he wants?" the elder Turaga asked Sherrie curiously, she grinned, "Wotzit would like you to make friends with him Turaga."  
While the other Turaga quietly talked about how to explain all that had happened, Dume told everyone else what had happened to him. "I was examining a small tablet trying to work out what the prophecy on it meant, when I heard footsteps behind me and as I turned around things went black and I remember nothing more until I awoke here."

"There's no easy-quick way to explain." they heard Matau saying as they came back to where the group waited. When they reached them Vakama was looking apprehensive but then began to tell Dume what had passed from when Toa Lhikan had spoken to him in the Ta-metru forge.  
A while later Tahu said, as all the Toa but Aikane had heard the story before, "Mind if we scout around the rest of the Metru?" The Turaga looked at each other then at Dume "It should be alright, but you know better than me at the moment." he replied.

As the Toa stood up, Dume glanced curiously at Aikane, "Aren't you going?" he asked, "I'm still learning the history of both islands, I can look around another time Turaga." she smiled, moving to sit beside Sherrie.  
While the others started towards the entrance Wotzit was racing back and forth between the Toa and where the rest were sat, "Hahli, do you still have that Frisbee?" asked Nokama as they watched Wotzit. "Yes Turaga." Hahli grinned as she stood up, pulled it out of her bag and then threw it out over the arena with Wotzit in hot pursuit. While Hahli and Jaller tired Wotzit out, Vakama carried on telling Dume what had happened.  
It didn't take long to tire Wotzit and he slept beside Jaller and Ahonui for an hour before grabbing the Frisbee and started again, by which time Vakama had finished telling Dume about how they had finally reached the island that the Turaga had named Mata Nui.

Turaga Dume was thinking about what Vakama had told him, then he glanced over at the younger Turaga, "I know you haven't told me everything yet, but I need to think on what you've said. So I'll have a walk around the arena." Dume said getting up, then he paused and turned to ask the human something, but Aikane's and her attention had been caught by Gali calling out, _"Sisters, Kopaka and I have found something really strange, come and see."_  
_"Where are you?"_ Aikane asked as Turaga Dume looked curiously at us while we listened to Gali, before turning to Vakama. "Another story to hear?" Nuju nodded and then said something that Matoro translated, "Yes and a fairly recent one too."

 _“We're in Ko-metru, Tahu and Pohatu went to Ta-metru and Lewa, Takanuva and Onua went to see Le-metru."_ Gali then told her sisters.

 _"This'll be a good time to try out your Kakama."_ she added laughing, Aikane grinned "That's true."she replied, while Sherrie told everyone what Gali had told them, Aikane switched to her Kakama and grinned, "I'll go and find the other Toa and we'll meet in Ko-metru."  
Vakama and Dume both nodded then gave Aikane directions, as she sped off towards the entrance Sherrie joined Turaga Onewa, "When did Aikane find her Kakama?" she asked curious, "Just before we came over to see what the state of the city was." Onewa replied. "So this is the first time she's used it." Sherrie said grinning as she heard Aikane laugh, _"This is amazing!"_  
Onewa nodded, "Yes Hewkii found it when Macku gave him an accidental swimming lesson. We're still looking for the last two Nuva masks for her." Macku giggled while Hewkii blushed sheepishly. Dume who'd been quietly listening laughed, "So despite everything, Macku's as chirpy as ever." As they left the coliseum and walked towards Ko-metru.

xXx

While they headed towards Ko-metru Sherrie heard Dume saying to Whenua, "I recognise all the matoran here but one, what's Ahonui's story?" Whenua looked over to where Ahonui was talking with Matoro, Nuju, Onewa and the human, "I think it's best if he tells you." he said calling Ahonui to come over.  
When Ahonui reached Whenua and Dume he looked embarrassed that Dume wanted to know his story, but walked beside Dume quietly telling it. As Ahonui finished telling Dume what had happened to him Dume listened intently and then glanced over at Sherrie. "I sensed that there was something special about that Vahki when it was made, that prophecy now makes sense."  
"What prophecy elder-brother?" asked Matau curiously, Dume looked over at Matau and quietly repeated, "Elder brother?" then laughed.

"The prophecy on the tablet I was looking at, it read 'One not of this world shall bring the guardian speech' I found it not long after you became active." he nodded at Ahonui ."Is that why you keep glancing at me Turaga?" Sherrie asked intrigued as they saw the remains of the Knowledge Towers come into view. "Yes, just before I awoke Mata Nui told me that I should keep an eye on you." Dume said, smiling at the human's stunned expression. "Oh!" she murmured, wondering what was going to happen next.  
They spotted Gali waiting for them by a fairly intact knowledge tower and when they reached her she said, "I told Aikane we'd meet her and the others here, Kopaka's making sure what we found isn't going to fall over then he'll join us." While everyone settled to wait, Sherrie sat between Nokama and Vakama, stroking Wotzit and feeling very puzzled as Kopaka joined them.


	6. Chapter 6

Speeding away from the coliseum Aikane was amazed by the speed she was moving, "This is amazing!" she laughed, _“Right I'll go to Ta-metru first then Le-metru.”_ she thought as she nimbly dodged the rubble. Soon she'd reached the edge of Ta-metru and slowed to a walk to sees if she could hear if Tahu and Pohatu were nearby.  
"Brothers can you hear me?" Aikane then called out, but got no reply. She then grinned and switched to her Vohaki and began searching through the shadows until she found Tahu and Pohatu looking at part of the main foundry. Then Aikane switched back to her Kakama and headed towards them.  
Tahu was talking with Pohatu when Aikane reached them and told them what Gali had told her.

"This city has many mysteries." Pohatu commented as he and Tahu switched to their Kakama and raced with Aikane towards Le-metru, "How did you find us so quickly?" Tahu asked Aikane,"We still haven't found a Akaku for you yet."  
Aikane grinned "It's an ability my mask has gained, I'm able to see through shaded areas. While I slept on the Kikanalo ride Mata Nui told me my mask power would increase when the star vanished." she explained as they reached the outskirts of Le-metru. "So when did you sense this new ability?" Pohatu asked as they slowed down so as not to trip over the cables that seemed to be everywhere. "When I awoke I realised what I could now do." Aikane replied switching to her Vohaki again while she glanced around her mask gently glowing, then grinned, "Our brothers are over that way." she pointed in the direction of the moto-hub. "I'll go and get them." Tahu said as he activated his Miru and then soared off in the direction where Aikane had seen them.

Takanuva whistled when the remains of the moto-hub came into view "Wow it looks like...." he paused not sure what it reminded him of. "I think-know what you mean." Lewa said quietly while Onua nodded, they stood there for a while looking at it and were just about move in for a closer look when Tahu landed nearby. "Tahu, is anything wrong?" Takanuva asked as he walked over to them, "Nothing's wrong, Gali and Kopaka have found something in Ko-metru that they think we should have a look at."  
"How did you find us so quick-fast?" Lewa wanted to know as they switched to their Kakama, "Aikane got a boost in power to her mask," Tahu grinned, "She and Pohatu are waiting at the edge of Le-metru." nodding, Lewa led everyone back the way they had first come.

On reaching Aikane and Pohatu they paused a few moments while Takanuva asked Aikane about her Vohaki. Then they raced back to Ko-metru, it was mid afternoon when they reached where the others were waiting.  
As Kopaka and Gali led them to where they'd found what they thought they should see, Aikane was explaining to the Turaga what her mask could now do. "That's useful seeing as a Akaku hasn't been found for you." Onewa said as they moved through the ruins of Ko-metru Aikane nodded, "Indeed Turaga." as they reached the remaining group of Knowledge Towers.  
Walking around the nearest Kopaka and Gali then led the group over to what looked like an ice sculpture of some kind of bird. "You're right sister, it does look strange." Aikane said as she moved closer for a better look.

Turaga Dume, Nuju, Vakama and Sherrie moved around to the front of the strange sculpture and were looking at it when its eyes seemed to blink. "Did you see that?" commented Vakama, "Yes." Dume replied puzzlement crossing his mask. Suddenly there was a crackling noise and the sculpture split apart revealing a hawk-like rahi.  
"Nivawk!" Nokama exclaimed shocked as the rahi blinked, getting its bearings then glared around at everyone. As it started to flex its wings the group stood there stunned, "I haven't seen Nivawk since Makuta absorbed it." Whenua said nervously. Suddenly the rahi took off and circled round a few times, then it banked into a steep dive, aiming for Dume with its talons outstretched. Without thinking; Sherrie pushed the elder Fire Turaga out of the Nivawk's attack path then cried out as its talons dug deeply into her shoulders and pulled her off the ground.

While Pohatu and Onua quickly checked that the Turaga were alright, the others Toa tried to knock the Nivawk either out the sky or get it to drop their human friend. But the rahi avoided their attempts and after gaining altitude to get out of the reach of any more tries it turned towards the tower at the coliseum.

"Let me go you, miserable excuse for a buzzard!" Sherrie yelled at the Nivawk as it came into land, it shot into the throne room, dropping her unceremoniously onto the floor. The human rolled until she hit the wall and the Nivawk landed close by. As she tried to check on her bleeding shoulders, it stalked over and hissed at her. _"Sherrie where has the Nivawk taken you?"_ she heard Aikane calling anxiously, " _The one place the Turaga said may be unsafe, it’s landed in the tower!"_ Sherrie replied, watching as the angry rahi looked around for someone.

While Tahu and the others tried to make the Nivawk drop Sherrie, Pohatu and Onua checked the Turaga were alright. "Why did that rahi try to attack me?" Dume asked baffled as Vakama helped him up, "It must think that because Makuta took your form, that he's back."  
At this Dume looked sick, "And it seems that the nivawk bears a grudge." Onewa added. Aikane turned from where she'd been standing while talking to her sister, "It's taken Sherrie to the tower." she said looking worried, as everyone gathered to work out a way to rescue her.

Turaga Dume made a sketch of the layout of the tower and while he explained the quickest way to the throne room, he also told everyone about the hidden stairway that had been designed for emergencies. "Could Makuta have known about that way?" Vakama asked as the Toa carefully memorised the tower plans, Dume pondered, "I'm not sure, who ever goes that way will have to be extra careful, just in case." he eventually replied.  
Dusk was starting to fall but everyone headed for the coliseum, "If we try when night falls the Nivawk should be asleep." Onua said, when they reached the coliseum Tahu, Onua, Aikane and Kopaka had decided to go up the hidden way, while Gali and Pohatu said they would go through the tower and Lewa and Takanuva said they would fly up. While the Turaga and matoran kept Wotzit from insisting on helping to rescue his pack leader, Aikane called out to her, _"Sherrie, how are you doing?"_

Sitting against the wall Sherrie had finally stopped her shoulders bleeding, cautiously watching the nivawk as it still hunted around the room looking for someone.  
After a while it stalked back over and stared at her, when she went to shift away from it, the nivawk hissed angrily and threatened to rake her with its talons again, she kept very still after that.

As night fell, the Nivawk moved over to an area that the human hadn't looked at, then it jumped on what looked like a perch but never stop watching her.  
_“Sherrie, how are you doing?"_ she heard Aikane call, _"I'm alright, the nivawk keeps looking for someone and really doesn't like me moving around,"_ the human replied before adding, _"Is it possible that Turaga Onewa may be able to help?"_  
 _"I'll ask."_ Aikane replied.

Turning to the others Aikane told them what Sherrie had suggested, Tahu hurried back to the Turaga and asked what they thought. A few minutes later Tahu came back with Onewa who said he'd go with Lewa and Takanuva. So as they split into the three groups and started towards the tower, the other Turaga and matoran holding Wotzit watched, "Mata Nui protect them." Dume murmured as the Toa reached the tower then they saw movement in the starlight as Lewa and Takanuva flew up carrying Onewa between them.

As Gali and Pohatu entered the tower they noticed that some remaining lightstones still glowed so took one each and then headed towards the stairway by the lift. Picking their way through the debris Pohatu looked around interested then stopped, "The stairway is blocked." he said, "I'll tell Aikane that we'll have to follow Lewa, Takanuva and Onewa." Gali replied as they headed down again.

Tahu and the others cautiously moved up the emergency stairs with Kopaka checking everything twice. _"Aikane,"_ Sherrie suddenly called to the violet hued Toa, "Hang on brothers." she said, holding up her hand. _"What is it sister?"_ Aikane then asked while the others watched, _"Did Turaga Dume say where the emergency door is?_  The human asked, _"It comes out behind the throne, why?"_  
 _"Be very careful, the nivawk's roosting just by there."_ Sherrie replied, _"Ah right, I'll let the others know."_ Aikane calmly replied.  
As Sherrie sat there waiting and wishing she could do something more to help, she couldn't help shaking as the shock started to kick in, the wounds were starting to throb like mad. Suddenly she glanced over to the windows and watched as Lewa, Takanuva, Gali, Pohatu and Onewa silently levitated over the ledge and land in the room.

When the Nivawk shifted on its' perch and hissed softly, eyes glowing menacingly, everyone froze, _"Aikane, there's a large curtain covering the wall behind the throne, you'll be able to cover the nivawk with it."_ Sherrie heard Gali telling Aikane as they kept still. "Great idea sister, I'll tell Tahu."

A few minutes passed then Aikane told Gali and Sherrie that the others were ready to come through the door, Gali whispered something to Lewa, Pohatu and Takanuva who nodded then the starlight showed they'd switched to their Hau. The Nivawk turned it's attention to them, when Sherrie shifted and yelped as the wounds pulled, it went back to staring at her, Then everything seemed to happen at once. Tahu's group burst through the door grabbing the curtain, while the Nivawk screamed and tried to attack either the human or Lewa's group only to bounce off the shielding effect of four Hau.

While it was stunned, Tahu and the others bundled the Nivawk up tightly inside the curtain, by the time it came round, the nivawk looked a bit like a sausage with attitude. Sherrie was still lent against the wall while everyone dealt with the nivawk, then while Takanuva boosted the lightstones in the room, Sherrie stifled a gasp as Gali checked the wounds on her arms. Onua and Kopaka came to help and after the wounds were healed Sherrie hugged Gali who now looked exhausted and Lewa helped her sit down by the windows. While Gali got her strength back, Onewa before using his Komau gave his Rau a try, but quickly switched back looking shocked and used his Komau instead.  
Not long after the Nivawk's eyes glazed over and it quietened down, as Onewa joined his friends, he looked over at the now sleeping rahi and commented, "I've never heard a rahi swear before."

"What are we going to do with it? It's too vicious to stay unguarded." Pohatu said, Kopaka looked thoughtful, "We haven't looked around Onu-metru yet, there may be an answer there."  
"First we have to get it down to the arena." Takanuva said glancing over at the Nivawk, Kopaka walked over to the window ledge, "I'll have a word with Nuju." he said as he switched to his Miru and flew down to where the other Turaga, matoran and Wotzit waited. The others watched the stars and not long after Kopaka and Turaga Nuju returned. Looking closely at the nivawk, Nuju then glanced over at them and nodded. The Toa then used their Miru to get everyone back to the arena and then Lewa and Kopaka carried Nuju slowly down while he used his Matatu to levitate the nivawk down to the ground. They then returned back to the fire that Jaller and Hahli had kept going and Tahu and Lewa told them what had happened.

Gali and Sherrie were sat together while Tahu and Lewa told everybody what had happened as they settled around the fire, Wotzit woke up then came and curled up beside his owner.  
While Tahu talked, Aikane leaned over to Kopaka, "Look." she said quietly nodding over to where Gali and Sherrie were, Gali had fallen asleep with her arm draped around their smaller sister's shoulders and Sherrie was lent against her deeply asleep. Nuju had also noticed and when Tahu had finished, Nuju tapped Vakama's arm then pointed over at them. "Looks like we'd best carry on this talk-chat in the morning." Matau said smiling.  
"Shouldn't someone keep an eye on the Nivawk?" asked Pohatu, "No problem, brother." said Aikane as her shadow twin solidified and nodded as it took up position near the sleeping bird. "That's different!" Dume said watching with interest, Aikane grinned "And very useful Turaga."

They were all woken at dawn by the Nivawk screaming its anger "Nokama, if I can calm it down can you talk to it?" Onewa asked as everyone tried to block out the noise. Nokama nodded and as they walked closer to the Nivawk the Toa weren't far behind, the rest of the group stayed where they were. The screaming subsided after a few minutes and the others watched as Nokama talked to the Nivawk, there was a moments silence then the Nivawk started again. Nokama then said something to Onewa and not long after the Nivawk fell asleep, Nokama sadly shook her head as she, Onewa and the Toa came back over. "The Nivawk is completely mad," she said "It's convinced that you're the Makuta and wants to destroy the one it thinks is it's master."

As she sat down, the others looked worried "What's to be done, we can't keep making it sleep, the effects of the Komau are only temporary." Onewa said glancing back to where the Nivawk slept. Whenua was having a quiet word with Vakama, who then made a suggestion, the Turaga listened "It's worth an attempt-try." Matau was the first to say, so Whenua gave Onua, Takanuva, Kopaka and Aikane directions to the archives, then they headed off towards Onu-metru. As they left the coliseum, Tahu looked over to the Turaga "What'll happen if they can't find any?" he asked worried, the Turaga glanced at each other then Dume sighed "Then the Nivawk would have to be encased in a protodermis cage," He shook his head "The stasis tube would be far kinder." the remaining Toa and everyone else thought about that, then Wotzit nudged Sherrie who hugged him.

As they waited for Aikane to let them know, the matoran kept Wotzit amused. Sherrie was sitting by Gali as she and the other Toa talked with the Turaga and had just tugged at the torn arm of her t-shirt, when Nuju glanced over and blinked surprised. He then turned to where the matoran were and whistled to get Matoro's attention, as he came over Nuju said something, then Matoro glanced over to Sherrie and translated.  
"Turaga Nuju is wondering what is on your arm?" he explained as everyone looked curiously at their human companion. Sherrie realised what Nuju had seen and grinned, "They're tattoos; a form of decoration, I've had them several years." she replied pulling up the remains of her sleeve.  
"You wear that one on your hand too." commented Pohatu smiling as Gali rubbed one making Sherrie giggle, then they heard Aikane call, " _Sisters, we seem to have found a working stasis tube that's empty."_

 _"I'll let everyone know."_ Gali replied and Sherrie sighed with relief.

Gali was telling everyone, when the Nivawk woke and resumed its' screaming and trying to break free from the curtain. While Onewa calmed it down, the other Turaga agreed to take turns with their Matatu as they helped with carrying the Nivawk to Onu-metru.  
As the morning sun shone down we carefully made our way out of the coliseum and headed towards Onu-metru, on the way Dume, Vakama and Ahonui were quietly talking about something, then Ahonui came over to where Tahu, Gali, Hahli and Sherrie were. "Sherrie erm, Dume would like to have a look at what you wear on your left hand." he then pointed at the ring there, she was curious but took it off and handed it to Ahonui who went back to Dume and Vakama. "I wonder what they're up to?" Tahu commented as they continued walking.

Wotzit was following Hahli, Macku and Hewkii and as the Onu-metru archives came into view he suddenly raced ahead having spotted Kopaka and Aikane. "Look out sister, Wotzit's coming to say hello!" Sherrie laughed as he reached them and started barking happily. As the group paused while the Turaga swapped lifting the Nivawk from Whenua to Matau, Lewa kept glancing over at the Nivawk so Sherrie moved to join him, "You alright Toa Lewa?" He glanced at the human, "I'm heart-sad that the Nivawk can't be cured of it's anger-madness, yet if it could it would still be a danger-threat to other rahi." he sighed and shrugged. Sherrie caught hold of Lewa's hand and gently squeezed it, "I know what you mean." she replied as they approached Kopaka, Aikane and Wotzit. When they reached them Matau carefully placed the Nivawk on the ground, Tahu, Pohatu, Gali and Onewa stayed with it while everyone else went with Aikane and Kopaka to look at the stasis tube.

As they entered the archives the human was glancing around amazed, Whenua chuckled when he noticed how fascinated the matoran and she were. "Brother would you like to show Sherrie and the matoran around what's left of the displays on this level?" he then asked Dume. The elder Turaga smiled, "I'd be happy to." he replied.  
The Toa and other Turaga carefully moved the nivawk towards where Kopaka and Aikane had found the stasis tube, as they moved from sight Dume led those with him towards where the public displays had been. Carefully picking their way around rubble and broken displays, they were amazed by the artefacts that hadn't been destroyed, as Hahli and the others were looking at some sculptures the human glanced over to where Dume, who'd been telling those with him about them. As Dume paused his eyes briefly flashed intense blue, then he blinked and his eyes were normal again, he carried on speaking, completely unaware of what had just occurred.

 _"Aikane, your father just looked in on us."_ Sherrie called to her violet hued sister, then asked if the glimpse of what she'd seen had anything to do with what Dume had told her earlier. _"Could be that it does, we've nearly finished settling the Nivawk into the stasis tube so we'll be back up soon."_ Aikane replied.  
Seeing that Sherrie was distracted, Dume and the others waited and then asked how things were going "They're nearly finished and will be back shortly." she replied, then said, "Wotzit drop it." as the dog had grabbed a Kanoka disc, thinking it was a Frisbee, which started glowing. Then he changed colour from black and tan to all the colours of the rainbow.  
While Sherrie shook her head, giggling at his antics while Turaga Dume and the matoran doubled up with laughter as a brightly coloured Wotzit barked with excitement. Chuckles came from the returning Toa and Turaga when they saw Wotzit returning to his normal colours.

"That's different." Vakama laughed as they joined their friends, "I remember that discs maker was quite relieved to had it over, as you can see it activates at the slightest touch and the disc maker was an unusually rich shade of blue when he got here." Whenua grinned, "He never did find out what caused it to happen." Dume added chuckling.  
Then he and Whenua showed the group a few more artefacts that had somehow survived the destruction of the archives.

It was late afternoon when they left and Sherrie's skin was slowly losing the leaf green colour it had turned when she had picked the colour changing Kanoka disc up out of Wotzit's reach.

Kopaka looked over to Tahu "What are we doing now?" Tahu thought for a moment then glanced over to the Turaga "Well, apart from the Nivawk, we've not found anything that'll endanger the matoran," he said, "So shall we go and let them know Turaga?" Vakama looked at the other Turaga whom also nodded, smiling, "Yes it's time for them to come back to their original home."  
"We should get back to the canoes by tomorrow evening." Whenua said as Onewa added, "If we head back to Po-metru we can cut across to Ga-metru quicker than heading back to the coliseum."  
While the Toa and Turaga talked about which route to take Sherrie was waiting with Hahli and Macku, Wotzit sitting by Ahonui and Jaller getting his ears scratched and Matoro was quietly talking with Hewkii. Shortly after Aikane and Takanuva came over to see what they were up to and sat beside Hahli, Macku and Sherrie. "I think we'll be taking the Po-metru to Ga-metru way." Takanuva said as the other Toa and Turaga carried on talking as they also headed over to where their friends were.

"Taka's told you then?" Tahiti said as they prepared to head towards Po-metru, while we headed towards the main causeway Aikane noticed that Dume, Vakama and Ahonui were quietly talking about something. When they noticed she was watching them, they smiled and pretended they were talking about kolhii which soon got quite interesting when Onewa joined in.  
"I wonder what they're up to." Aikane commented to her human sister, "I know what you mean sis, it'll be interesting to find out."

As dusk fell the group settled down quite close to where the causeway to Po-metru was, Aikane, Whenua and Sherrie went to have a look at it, the causeway didn't look badly damaged. "Whenua, could you tell the others," Aikane said as they glanced around "We'll stay here for a while, I want a little time with Sherrie." Whenua looked intrigued but nodded and starting making his way back to where the others were camped.

Aikane and Sherrie went and sat on what had been part of a wall and watched the stars coming out, after a while Aikane glanced at her hand then at the human.  
"Sister do you trust me?" she shyly asked when Sherrie glanced around in surprise. "Of course I trust you, I've trusted you from the day we first met! Why?" she replied, surprised that Aikane felt she had to ask.  
Aikane didn't reply, instead she held her symbol marked hand in front of Sherrie's eyes, then the symbol started glowing intense blue.

How long they sat like that she had no idea, then the glow faded back to the silver outline. Blinking the afterglow away, Sherrie realised that she'd just lowered her hand too. Glancing up at Aikane who was now sat in front of her, Sherrie could see that she was just as bewildered "What just happened?" she asked as they stood up and headed back to the others, "I'm not sure," Sherrie replied then glanced up at her violet sister, "But I'm sure we'll find out when the time is right."  
When they reached the camp they were not surprised to see that everyone. had fallen asleep.

Aikane and Sherrie settled down close to Kopaka, Lewa, Gali and Hahli, then as the sky started lighten Aikane whispered, "I didn't realise we'd been away that long."  
Sherrie shook her head, "Know what you mean sister, yet I feel like I've had a good nights rest, do you?" Aikane paused for a few seconds then nodded, "Yes I do, how curious."  
They sat and watched the stars fading and the sky getting brighter "Would you like your picture of me back?" Aikane suddenly asked, the human smiled, "I think Whenua might like to display it in the archives when they're restored and I can stitch another whenever I like."  
Then they heard someone moving around and Wotzit came over and nudged Sherrie to make a fuss of him, not long after Gali awoke and glanced over at her sisters.  
"What happened last night? After sometime passed Whenua and I came to see how you were doing and found you both cocooned in blue light, I tried calling telepathically but you couldn't hear me. she asked puzzled.  
"We're not sure sister," Aikane replied, "But I'm sure Mata Nui will let us know when the time is right." Gali nodded, "Something strange happened here too, Dume was looking at something last night when suddenly it flared with blue light. Then the light faded just as quickly and Dume carefully put the object away again, Vakama and Ahonui then went over to him and they spent some time talking about it."  
They looked over to where Dume, Vakama and Ahonui were waking up, Dume looked over and smiled then got up and came over while everyone else started awakening. "How are you feeling?" Dume asked as Aikane and Sherrie stood up when he reached them. "We feel well, though just a little puzzled about what happened." Aikane replied as the others noticed they were back and gathered around to listen.

Then they started over to the causeway, on the way Sherrie went to ask Dume if the blue flare everyone else saw had anything to do with her ring, Dume glanced at her and smiled. "It's too soon to let you know." was all he would say as they headed across the causeway.  
Wotzit then thought he saw something and went racing ahead only to come to an abrupt halt, as the group caught up with him they saw that part of this causeway also had a gap where part of it had fallen.  
"We won't need the Miru this time." Takanuva said grinning, as the sun hadn't risen high enough to dispel the shadow of the causeway. Aikane chuckled and walked over to the area still in shadow pulling her Quarter-staff out, then as it started glowing she rested the end where the shadow started and the causeway ended. As her friends watched, the shadow around Aikane's staff started to turn opaque and then the thicker area spread until they could no longer see the silver sea, after a few minutes passed Aikane stepped onto the shadow made area.

"We'd better be quick, I'm not sure how long I can keep the shadow solid." she said glancing at them. While they started across, Matau said something to Nuju whom nodded, as they reached the safe part of the causeway Sherrie realised the shadow was starting to thin. Then it vanished, stranding Aikane on the other side, Matau and Nuju looked over to where Aikane was lent against her staff, getting her strength back, Matau switched to his Matatu and then he and Nuju lifted her over to rejoin them.  
"Thank you Turaga." Aikane said as she landed by Matau and Nuju, after they insisted on her resting for a few minutes they continued towards Po-metru. Onewa then showed everyone the quickest way to Ga-metru and it was early afternoon when they spotted Ga-metru.  
While we approached the causeway that joined Po-metru and Ga-metru Sherrie's symbol marked hand started to softly glow and she sensed that she had to go back to the Great Temple.


	7. Chapter 7

When the group reached Ga-metru and started through the metru, Dume was horrified to see what had happened. He walked beside Nokama and Onewa, discussing where to start the rebuilding of Ga-metru, while Hahli and the others were making sure that Wotzit didn't stray far from them.  
As evening came the group was halfway to where they'd left the canoes and as they'd made good time, Tahu, Gali, Onua and Vakama decided to rest and then go to where the canoes were at first light the next day.  
This was met with approval by everyone else and it didn't take long to find somewhere to settle down for the night. "You're quiet tonight Sherrie, are you alright?" Pohatu asked as her as they settled around the camp-fire. "Hmm, Oh sorry I'm just watching the fire." he grinned then nodded, "I know what you mean."  
"It's a nice way to pass the time." Tahu added smiling.

When everyone else drifted off to sleep, Sherrie watched the fire die to embers then as quietly as she could moved away from where the others slept and started walking towards the Great Temple, wondering why she'd being called this time. The symbol was now glowing so brightly that she was able to see her way clearly and though the group had camped halfway to where they'd left the canoes it didn't take long for Sherrie to reach the causeway leading to the Great Temple.

As Sherrie approached the Temple, she could sense that there was someone close behind her, but something warned her not to look behind. So she began walking as quickly as she could, sensing that who ever was following her was toying with her but wouldn't be able to enter the Temple.  
She had just reached the Great Temple doorway when someone's claws suddenly raked across her back deeply, drawing blood. The human gasped, stumbled through the doorway and fell to her knees, then caught a glimpse of glowing red eyes that watched her with malevolent interest.

Back in the camp Aikane and Gali suddenly woke the others as they awoke, scrambling to their feet shouting, "Sherrie watch out!" then Aikane looked around anxiously.  
_"Where are you?"_ she called silently, then when she didn't get a reply, Takanuva lit up the area around the camp-site and Matoro started seeing if he could track their friend. "Over here, Sherrie went this way." he suddenly called, as everyone joined him, he pointed out the slight trail, "It looks like she's started back towards where the canoes are." Whenua said, "Or maybe she's gone back to the Great Temple," suggested Pohatu, "I noticed that her hand was glowing earlier"  
"Turaga you and the matoran keep Wotzit here, we'll see what's happened to Sherrie." Tahu said as the other Toa prepared their weapons and headed towards the Great Temple. They moved quickly and were soon at the causeway "What is that?!" Aikane exclaimed pointing towards the Great Temple, a strange fog was hovering near the doorway trying to get at something just inside it.

Sherrie knelt unable to move on the ground just inside the doorway as the icy fire touch of the scratches across her back seemed to be spreading through her body. At the same time she realised that the symbol still glowed but the silver/violet light was getting slowly duller with each breath and a sinister red glow was staring to appear on one side.  
The glowing red eyes watching her then seemed to smile, then the Makuta shifted closer and whispered, "You won't be able to fight the poison, come here, join me and I will cure you." Closing her eyes, Sherrie reached out, _"Aikane, sister give me strength!"_ and when she opened her eyes felt a surge of love coming from the violet hued Toa.  
Looking up at the malevolent being, Sherrie gathered her fading strength and screamed at the top of her lungs "You'll NEVER make me join you!"  
Shifting to hover closer still, he hissed, "So be it fool, your demise will be slow and painful!"  
Suddenly Makuta was lit up from behind by Takanuva's mask and the fog that made up his form started dissipating as a gust of hot air hit it, then part of it just vanished while the rest evaporated. The human felt herself falling to the ground and was dimly aware of Aikane crying out, "Sister, hang on!" as the poison rendered her unconscious.

The Toa cautiously watched the living fog as they crossed the causeway when Aikane suddenly gasped, Kopaka glanced at her then used his Akaku to look closer at the fog. "That's not fog," he stated "It's trying to get at Sherrie." Aikane suddenly started glowing which just as quickly subsided, and for the first time ever she looked angry, "He's hurt Sherrie."  
"Takanuva, you're the best one to deal with this!" Tahu said as they started running towards the Temple. Suddenly they heard a defiant scream.

"You'll NEVER make me join you!!!"

"And I thought when I surprised her that that was a loud-shout." Lewa exclaimed looking worried as Takanuva's mask activated outlining the fog. As it started to shrink "A little heat will also help, brother." Kopaka said as they neared the Temple, then Tahu pointed his Magma swords at the fog, rapidly heating the air around it.  
When the fog vanished Aikane saw her sister collapse to the ground and cried out "Sherrie hang on!"

They swiftly reached the Temple and Aikane bent to pick Sherrie up, the human hung limply from her arms and the Bionicle symbol was now half covered by a sinister red/black glow.  
"We must think-do something." Lewa muttered anxiously while Aikane carried Sherrie into the Temple, "Sister, did you hear Lewa?" Tahu said catching their violet hued sister's arm. He then gasped, let go and stepped back on seeing her eyes now glowed blue.

While Aikane continued moving towards the centre of the Temple blue light began coalesce around her, then Gali murmured, "Lewa, Pohatu tell Turaga Dume and Ahonui we need them, they will know what you mean." Lewa and Pohatu nodded and switched masks before they shot back out the Temple.  
Then as Aikane placed Sherrie on the floor and knelt down, Gali joined her and the light grew thicker, as Tahu and the others moved closer watching silently.

When Lewa and Pohatu were nearly at the camp they saw Vakama, Dume, Hahli and Ahonui hurrying towards them, "We know," Dume said "Vakama just had a vision!" Ahonui and Dume were helped onto the Toas' backs then they both held tightly as the Toa raced back towards the Temple.  
"I hope we're quick-fast enough." Lewa said as they reached the causeway and sped into the Temple, stopping by the other Toa. Lewa and Pohatu set Ahonui and Dume down then watched as they joined Gali, Aikane and Sherrie, then the light turned opaque blocking all of them from view.  
Takanuva sat down with a worried sigh then the others joined him and they waited.

After sometime had passed the rest of the Turaga, matoran and Wotzit entered the Temple and sat beside them while Tahu quietly explained what had happened. "So now we wait and hope." Nokama softly said glancing at the curtain of light that shone unwavering beside the Toa Suva. Wotzit was lying between Jaller and Matoro, he was watching the light intensely and occasionally whining, "Easy Wotzit, Sherrie will make it." Jaller said stroking him as daylight approached.

When the light blocked them from the sight of the others Gali, Aikane, Dume and Ahonui knelt around the human then seemed to fall into a trance. _As they relaxed, their spirits moved from their bodies then stood beside them while Sherrie's spirit did the same. They glanced at each other curiously, then watched as more energy than had saved Ahonui and awoken Dume flowed through Gali, Aikane, Dume and Ahonui's bodies into Sherrie's, purging the poison and turning the symbol back to silver and violet._  
 _Then when the energy ceased flowing, their spirits moved back into their sleeping bodies and the curtain of light vanished they heard Mata Nui whispering, "Rest and recover."_  
Tahu and the others were surprised when the light suddenly disappeared and Nokama was the first up to see if their friends were all alright, then she glanced back to everyone else and nodded, smiling as a sigh of relief went up.

The sun was shining in through some of the Temple windows when Aikane, Gali, Dume, Ahonui and Sherrie awoke. Takanuva on seeing they were awake, quickly roused the others who were quietly dozing.  
While everyone stood up, Wotzit came over to reassure himself that his friends and pack leader were alright, Sherrie hugged him as Lewa and Onua asked what had happened, there was a pause as their friends looked at each other blankly.

"I'm not too sure, it seemed like a dream." Aikane eventually said, then she and Gali told the others what had happened after Dume and Ahonui had joined them. Lewa whistled while everyone else looked amazed, then Dume came and rested his hand on my shoulder "Mata Nui was right when he said you had the heart of a Toa." he quietly told Sherrie then smiled as she blushed. When they started towards the stairs, Sherrie was wondering if the summons that had called her back there had been fulfilled when something started glowing on the far side of the Temple.

"What's that?" she wondered aloud as Tahu and Gali also looked in the direction of the glow. Walking over to it Sherrie realised that it looked like the image she'd seen of a Vahki power staff. "Ahonui could you come over here please?" she called over her shoulder as she reached out and lifted it up, her marked hand started glowing and the light spread from the symbol and covered the staff.  
When Ahonui reached Sherrie, she silently held it out to him and as he took hold of it the staff changed, shrank and when the light dissipated Ahonui was holding a kolhii stick with the scoop part formed from the staff Sherrie'd picked up.  
"So that's why I was called back." Sherrie grinned as Ahonui went and showed Jaller and the others, "We'll definitely be giving you kolhii lessons when things settle down!" Hewkii said as they headed back up the stairs. Sherrie was walking beside Kopaka, Aikane and Onua when she suddenly realised that it would soon be time for Wotzit and her to return to their world. Aikane and Gali must have known at the same moment.

Gali came over to Aikane and Sherrie as they suddenly stopped just outside the temple and looked at each other, Onua and Kopaka glanced over to where Tahu and the others who were half way across the causeway, then Kopaka whistled and when Nuju looked round Kopaka gestured to them to come back.  
When they got back to the trio Gali said, "I think Sherrie has something to tell us." as everyone looked curiously at the human, she sighed then said, "When we get back to the canoes, Wotzit and I will be returned to our world."  
On hearing this Aikane and Gali gently squeezed their sister’s shoulders "I knew this would happen soon." Gali and Sherrie heard Aikane comment as the rest of the Toa, Turaga and matoran murmured with surprise. "I was hoping to look around Mata Nui with you." Ahonui said as they started walking over the causeway, "Would you settle for tiring Wotzit out instead?" Sherrie asked as Wotzit had started charging around excitedly, Ahonui laughed, "Alright!" and charged after Wotzit, Hahli and the others looked at each other then raced after them as Wotzit charged down to where the canoes were beached.

"Ahonui wasn't the only one who wanted to look around Mata Nui with you." Dume quietly said to Sherrie as they reached the path that led down to the beach. The group started making their way down and could see Hahli and the others throwing the Frisbee as Wotzit chased it around. By the time they had reached the Wotzit had tired himself out and was lying flat out by one of the canoes, they looked around on hearing a whisper in the breeze that had suddenly sprung up _"It's time."_

On hearing those words Sherrie hugged everyone, pausing when Dume placed something in her hand then she walked over to sit beside Wotzit, closing her eyes as the strange lethargy came over her.

When Sherrie opened her eyes again she was back home and Wotzit was sleeping on his beanbag. Looking at the remains of her t-shirt, Sherrie headed into her bedroom to put on an undamaged t-shirt and shoved the ruined one in the bin.  
While looking around for a notepad to start writing their latest adventure down, Sherrie glanced at what Dume had given her. It was her ring and as she examined it she realised that the Bionicle symbol had been etched somehow into the moonstone. While looking at the ring Sherrie laughed quietly as she put her ring back on.  
_"Take care sisters."_ Sherrie thought as she picked up a pen and started writing, then glanced around in surprise she heard her violet hued sister’s reply _"Mata Nui willing, we will see you again sister."_


End file.
